Unknown Love
by Skywriter5
Summary: Percy is a prince who just broke up with his girlfriend, Rachel. His parents take all the eligible girls from Atlantis so Percy can choose one as his wife. Annabeth is one of those girls, but hates Prince Percy. Will he choose her?
1. The Prince and Princess Drama

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO! I am pretty sure I own the story line though. I hope so.**

**Chapter One: The Prince**

_I look out across the ocean and sigh with pleasure. The sea always gives me a pleasant feeling, even in my worst moods. The sand shifts next to me and when I turn my head, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen is sitting next to me. She also turns her head and what I see makes me catch my breath. The mystery girl has long honey blonde hair that curls like a princess's and cascades down her back. She has tan skin and an athletic, curvy figure. The splash of freckles across her nose, her naturally luscious lips, and high cheekbones bring out her eyes, her most beautiful feature. The girl's eyes are a startling grey, but mystifying and beautiful. She is perfect._

"Who are you?" I ask her. The smile she gives me makes my heart melt. She opens her mouth to answer me.

"Percy, wake up," she says. It's not exactly the answer I was expecting to hear.

"Huh?" I ask, confused.

"Sweetie, wake up," says my mother as she gently wakes me up from my deep sleep and short but wonderful dream.

"Okay mom. I'm up," I say with a groan. When I look up, my mother is wearing her crown and many different necklaces. _What it is with women and jewelry?_ I ask myself.

"Perseus Orion Jackson! You know you should have been up by now to get ready for your date with Rachel," my mother says with a disapproving look. The simple golden crown glistens upon her petite head. My mother, Sally Jackson, and step- father, Paul Blofis, are king and queen of the greatest kingdom of the 21st century, Atlantis. Unfortunately, that makes me prince of Atlantis.

"Mom, Rachel's a spoiled brat who only cares about herself and Twilight," I say in an annoyed tone.

"Now Percy, you should not talk about Rachel that way. She is a wonderful girl and the two of you make a wonderful couple," my mother says in a stern voice as I walk towards my huge and spacious closet.

"Well, I think she's a bit- brat," I say, stopping myself before my mother can give me another lecture about using the right language.

"I'm tired of you making me go on dates with her and I can't take it anymore. Never will I go on a date with Rachel Elizabeth Dare ever again," I say in an exasperated, but firm tone.

"Fine, Percy. I have another solution to this marriage problem, but I must discuss with your father before I take action," she says with excitement in her voice.

"Wait, what marriage problem?" I ask her, bet she is already gone.

"Mothers," I grumble to myself. I throw on a green t-shirt and a pair of jeans as my mind wanders to the gorgeous girl in my dreams. _I wonder who she is. Have I seen her before? Does she live here in Atlantis?_ I am so lost in thought, that I don't realize that I have walked into the castle garden and into the last person I want to see; Rachel.

"Hi Percy!" she says with a smile, her green eyes glistening. Rachel turns to two girls behind her who are most likely her maids and says in an icy tone, "Scram!"

I look at her with disgust as the two girls hastily walk off.

"Um, hi Rachel," I say with a slight glare, but she doesn't catch it.

"Are you ready for our date?" she says as she bats her eyelashes. She's trying to be flirtatious, but instead I'm just annoyed.

"Actually Rachel, I need to talk to you about that. Let's sit down," I say as we go to one the benches that are spread throughout our huge, magnificent garden.

"What is it Percy?" she asks with a worried look on her face.

"I think it would be best if we stopped dating," I say calmly, but she is the complete opposite of calm.

"What! Why?" she practically screams. Her green eyes that I used to find attractive go wide in shock.

"I think we are different and should see other people. It's for the best," I say truthfully.

"I don't think that! We are perfect for each other! All of the magazines and people in Atlantis say so!" she yells.

"I'm sorry Rachel, but I am not one of those people," I say calmly once more as I stand up. Rachel then jumps up and places her face close to mine, her face red with anger and the exact same color as her hair. I can almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

"You will regret this, Perseus Orion Jackson! Just wait and see! Soon, you'll come crawling back to me and I _will_ be the one to say I TOLD YOU SO!" she yells and stomps off angrily. She took that better than I thought she would. I walk around the garden, overjoyed to finally be free from the wrath of Rachel. Little did I know that this conversation would be all over Atlantis within the next hour.


	2. Squealing Girls and Hating Princes

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO! This chapter is longer than the last one, and from Annabeth's point of view. I will switch around every once in a while. The description of Silena is one of many descriptions, but I chose the one from The Ultimate Guide, so sorry if you're disappointed. Thanks to booklover484 for being my first reviewer! **

**Chapter Two: The Beauty**

_You are the only exception, you are the only exception, you are the only exception_.

I grab my phone, happy to wake up to my favorite song by Paramore. I flip open my phone and the first thing I hear are my best friends Silena Beauregard, Thalia Grace, and Juniper Woods.

"OMG Annabeth! Have you heard?" they all scream and add squeals to the end of their sentences.

"Good morning to you, too. Have I heard what?" I ask groggily as I get up to get dressed.=

"About Prince Percy!" they squeal once again. I hold my phone away from my ear to keep myself from going deaf.

"Ouch! What about him?" I say as I pick out my favorite outfit to start off the week. A short sleeve, yellow, flowing top that brings out my eyes paired with my white skinny jeans and white and green plaid Vans.

"He broke up with Princess Rachel!" they scream. I sigh as I walk to my bathroom to finish getting ready.

"And this is news because…" I pause at the end of my sentence.

"HE'S SINGLE!" they yell and squeal.

"Who cares?" I say with an exasperated tone. I'm tired of every single girl obsessing over Prince Percy. He's cute, yes, but to me he is just another spoiled Prince who likes attention, even though I have never met him.

"Every single girl in Atlantis! Well, except YOU!" Silena says, finally calming down, but emphasizing the word "you".

"Of course I don't care. He's just a spoiled brat. Anyway, I have to go if I want to make it to school on time," I say while trying to tame my curly honey blonde hair.

"Whatever. Before you know it, Annabeth Chase, you will be under the spell of Prince Perseus Orion Jackson," says Juniper.

"More like a curse," I grumble.

"See you later. Bye," I say.

My hair finally under control, I look at myself in the mirror. The honey blonde hair curled like a princess's flows down and stops midway down my back. I see my luscious, pink lips and high cheekbones. My curvy, athletic figure is more noticeable with my outfit. The splash of freckles across my tan nose and yellow shirt bring out my grey eyes. I have always considered myself pretty, but not as beautiful as my three closest friends, even though they tell me otherwise.

Silena has long, golden hair that flows all the way down to the end of her back. She has long eyelashes and naturally luscious red lips. Her eyes seem to change every day from green to blue. Her heart-shaped face is complimented by her pearly white smile. She is slim and an average height for a 17 year old teenager.

Thalia is a punk beauty. She has spiky jet-black hair and an athletic figure. Her long face and black clothes are overlooked when someone sees her eyes. They are piercing blue and look like sapphires. She is the tallest of our group of four and is clever, along with being independent. Silena on the other hand, is the girly-girl who likes to fawn over boys and go shopping.

Juniper has wispy hair the color of amber and pretty green eyes. She loves the environment, and will do anything to protect it. We call her fun-sized because of how short she is, but she is still very beautiful. The only thing that the three girls have in common is obsessing over Prince Percy, like every other girl in Atlantis.

Once I'm finished applying my small amount of mascara and pale pink lip gloss, I head downstairs to greet my brothers, Matthew and Bobby, my dad Frederick, and my step-mom.

"Morning," I say as I pour myself a bowl of my favorite cereal, Frosted Flakes.

"And how did my gorgeous 17 year old daughter sleep last night?" my dad asks with a smile, looking up from his newspaper at our kitchen table. Ever since he got re-married to my step-mom, he has been much happier.

My mom, Minerva, died giving birth to me and my father was devastated. But, when he met my step-mom, he was immediately happier and so was I. She is the mother that I always dreamed of when I was a little girl.

"Perfectly fine dad. Thanks," I reply with a laugh. I can hear Matthew and Bobby chattering away and then my step-mom walks in with my brothers wearing an elegant white-button blouse with a gray pencil skirt and black heels. Her brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail and she is carrying a black tote bag. My step-mom works in the palace as one of the many assistants that deliver messages and take calls for the royal family. All those of her profession dress like this.

"Hi honey. Hi sweetie," she says while pausing to give my dad a kiss.

"Hi mom," I say. "Well I have to go. I'll see you after school,"

I ruffle my brother's hair. I then grab by book bag and car keys. I walk into our garage and slide into the driver's seat of my Blue Honda Civic. I press the button on my control pad to open the garage and back out onto the street leading to my school. Goode High School is said to be the best public school in New York.

When I park in my usual spot at my school, Silena, Thalia, and Juniper see my car and come running to me. _What's with girls and boys?_ I ask myself.

"Finally! You're here! Let's go inside!" says Silena. I laugh at her eagerness. Thalia and Juniper each grab one of my arms and drag me through the halls of our big high school to get to our lockers. As I'm being dragged, I hear the same thing being said by every single girl we pass.

"Prince Percy… single… I hope he comes to our school… EEEEK!" the girls say. I flinch whenever the girls shriek. When we get to our lockers, I finally realize how much Prince Percy means to these lovesick girls.

"I guess Prince Percy being single really is a big deal, huh?" I ask, almost with a hint of guilt in my voice. Almost.

"The brilliant Annabeth has finally figured out the easiest problem in history. But yes, this is MAJOR!" Thalia says with a twinkle in her eyes. She seems so different than her usual tough self.

"It just seems stupid to obsess over a boy they don't even know," I say as I put some of my books in my locker.

"You have a point," they say at the same time.

"See? Anyway, let's forget about it. Besides, Silena, I see someone coming that I know you know," I say with a smug grin on my face.

Thalia, Juniper, and Silena turn around to see the boy Silena has liked since the sixth grade, Charles Beckendorf. Nobody is allowed to call him Charles, only Beckendorf, but Silena still calls him Charles and he doesn't seem to mind.

"Hi Silena," Beckendorf says, looking awkward.

"Hi Charles," Silena almost squeaks and then starts blushing.

"I-I was wondering, uh, if you would, um, go on a d-date with me S-Saturday night," he stutters, blushing alongside with Silena. Silena looks as if Prince Percy just asked her to marry him. A mixture of joy and shock spreads onto her face.

"O-Of course!" she says, putting on a dazzling smile while I smile and roll my eyes.

"Okay… well… I'll… uh… see you later… I guess," he says. Before he leaves, he surprises all four of us by giving her a kiss, and then running away. Silena is blushes and smiles fiercely.

"I cannot believe I just got my first kiss," she says in a small voice.

"Me neither. Well, now I'm the only one left," I say as the bell rings for our first class. Thalia had her first kiss a month ago with Nico Di Angelo who has secretly had a crush on her since the seventh grade. Juniper had her first kiss a year ago with Grover Underwood, another nature freak. Those two boys happen to be the best friends of Prince Percy, along with Beckendorf. I myself have never been kissed, but many have tried.

Juniper, Thalia, Silena, and I walk to our least favorite subject, Math, taught by the dull Mrs. Dodds. We survive through her endless lectures and our next period, Science, with the loud and enthusiastic Mr. Decker. Social Studies with Mr. Kringle passes in a blur. When lunch comes, I can still hear the shrill and excited squeals of girls throughout the cafeteria as they talk about the newly single Prince Percy. Even though Silena, Thalia, and Juniper are not part of the groups of girls looking through magazines for the details of Percy and Rachel's breakup -who knows how they got the magazines so fast- I can tell they want to be.

"Just go," I say to their anxious faces.

"Thank you!" they screech. _Ouch_ I think while flinching. No wonder boys find us annoying. I look at Thalia, Juniper, and Silena and wonder what it's like to be in their shoes. _It must be exciting, but my little brothers and my fantasy books are all the excitement I need right now_ I reassure myself. Study hall is our next period. I spend it finishing my project for Greek Mythology while every other girl spends it surfing the internet for more information on the one and only Prince Percy. Sixth period is my favorite period, Greek Mythology with Mr. Brunner. I didn't except it to be the place where I found the worst possible news of my life, but for other girls it was the greatest opportunity of a lifetime.

"Okay kids, for the first 20 minutes of class you are to read a book," says Mr. Brunner. A collective groan spreads throughout some of my classmates, but I'm excited and take out my newest addition to the Annabeth Chase library:_ Beautiful Creatures_.

Mr. Brunner winks at me and I smile back. After the first ten minutes of class pass by, there is a knock at the door, but I'm too absorbed in my book to notice. Everyone else turns their heads to see who it is, but mine stays down, until I hear Mr. Brunner arguing with whoever is at the door. I finally tear my head away from my book and the person I see at the door is someone I know for sure doesn't work at our school.

The woman is wearing an elegant white, button-up blouse with a gray pencil skirt and black heels. She's carrying a clipboard. She is shockingly beautiful with her dark brown, wavy hair pulled up in a ponytail and her green eyes that look like the sea, but slightly sad. Every boy in the class is drooling over her; their mouths are shaped like an 'O'. She must be an assistant from the palace.

"This is ridiculous!" yells Mr. Brunner to the mysterious woman.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it is Queen Sally and King Paul's orders," says the woman. A look of sadness flashes across her face, matching the look in her eyes.

"Alright, then. Choose away," Mr. Brunner says, gesturing his hand around the classroom. _What does he mean by choose away?_ I wonder. The woman points to several girls in the class, and I notice that I am one of them. Mr. Brunner then turns to the class and says,

"Girls, if I call out your name, please stand and follow Mrs. Back out into the hallway please. Katie Gardner, Piper Mclean, Silena Beauregard, Thalia Grace, Juniper Woods, and Annabeth Chase," Mr. Brunner says, but cringes as if he is in pain.

I look at the all of the girls throughout the class, and notice that the only most attractive were chosen. Is this some kind of beauty pageant? Ms. Back motions for us to follow her outside into the hallway.

Once outside, I see many more attractive senior girls come out of the other classrooms with women wearing the exact same thing as Ms. Back. I even spot my step-mom and wave to her. She doesn't wave back. An older woman urges us to quiet down and then says,

"I am sure you young ladies have heard of the recent breakup of Prince Percy and Princess Rachel," she says with a warm smile and girls squeal in delight. I feel hands grab both of my arms and turn to see Juniper, Silena, and Thalia at my sides.

The woman continues, "Since this unfortunate event has taken place, King Paul and Queen Sally have found a solution to find the Prince a match. All of you lucky ladies will be trained as princesses for six months. Percy will then meet with all of you individually and decide which one of you will stay for six more months. If he is still fond of you by the end of that time period, the lucky young woman will become his wife," she says proudly.

Girls scream and jump on their feet at the idea of becoming Prince Percy's wife, but I stay silent and think about how much I hate the prince already.

**A/N: Well I hoped you liked this next chapter. I will try to update soon and the only thing you need to is review! **


	3. A Sea of Girls and Mysterious Eyes

**Chapter 3: The Prince**

I was happily playing video games in the castle rec-room with my best friends: Grover Underwood, Nico Di Angelo, and Charles Beckendorf when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked at the caller id and saw it was my mother. Ugh. She's probably calling to tell me about what she calls 'marriage problems'.

"Hello?"

"Percy, I would like you to please come and see your father and I in the throne room. We have a very important matter to discuss," she said with excitement in her voice.

"Okay. I'll be right there," I say tiredly. "Hey guys, my mom is calling me so I have to go. See you guys later," I say to Nico, Grover, and Beckendorf as they are arguing about which video game is better. They are all sons of some of the dukes throughout the kingdom.

Nico is the son of Hades, my real father's brother, and Grover is the son of Travis, another duke. Beckendorf is the son of Hephaestus, the nephew of my father.

Grover is a freak of/about nature, literally. He is jittery and nervous around girls, but completely fine around us guys. Grover has wispy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He is all about protecting the environment.

Nico is the complete opposite. Grover, Beckendorf, and I like to call him Goth Boy because of how much black he wears and how black his hair and eyes are, but he denies it.

Beckendorf is a really ripped African-American teenager who all the girls swoon over at his school, Goode High School. Although, once you get to know him, he's a big softie at heart. All of them go to the same high school and I wish I could too. What shocks me most is that they all have girlfriends, not that they're not capable of getting girls…

Grover met this pretty environmental freak like him named Juniper Woods, Nico met a fierce girl who also wears all black named Thalia Grace, and Beckendorf has been crushing on this hot girl named Silena Beauregard. Since I broke up with Rachel, I am officially the single guy of our group.

I walk throughout the magnificent halls of our castle filled with different colors of blues, greens, purples, reds, oranges, and yellows. There are curtains hanging from every window that are so high I can't see where they begin. The familiar, specifically carved wood door comes into view that opens up to the throne room. I push open the heavy door and see my mother and father on their thrones with a look of anticipation on their faces.

"Father, Mother," I greet them with a crooked smile.

"Hello Percy. We have some exciting news to share with you," says my step-father.

"Well um, what is it?" I ask.

"Since the unfortunate event of your breakup with Princess Rachel has taken place, we have decided to take matters into our own hands to find you a wonderful bride," says my mother while she adjusts the crown on her head.

"That's sounds fi- wait, did you say bride?" I say with a look of shock on my face.

"Yes Percy. Your mother has come up with the idea of taking all eligible young ladies throughout the kingdom from the ages 17 to 18 years old. They will train here with one of our advisors, Aphrodite, for six months. After that time period is finished, you will meet with all of the ladies individually at a ball and you will choose the one you prefer best. Then the lucky young lady will then spend six more months here to spend more time with you and, if you are still fond of her, she will become your bride," my step-father says with a look of excitement on his face.

"WHAT! I'm only 18! How am I supposed to find the right girl in one night? Have you even thought that these girls will be torn away from their families for a year and only one of them will be chosen while the others go home crying? This is ridiculous!" I yell at my parents, my sea-green eyes blazing. My mother's smile only falters slightly.

"Percy, I thought you would be happy about this. Besides, the girls will be too caught up thinking about whether or not they will marry you and will forget their homes for the time being. I have already ordered our advisors to choose the most attractive throughout the kingdom and they are already on their way here," my mother says firmly.

I run my hand through my jet-black hair and sigh, "I just feel bad for the girls who aren't going to be chosen at all to even come to the palace. Whatever. I guess just have to deal with it," I say in a quiet voice.

"Don't worry, Percy. This will all work out in the end. You will have a beautiful bride, a nice castle to live in, and a whole kingdom to rule over," my father reassures me.

"Okay, dad. I'm going to get ready for when the girls come. Bye," I say with a sigh as I walk out of the throne room to the beach, the only place I find comfort. This is going to be a long six months.

As I'm sitting on the beach waiting for the girls to come wearing a white shirt with a black jacket over it and black jeans and converse, I take out my phone to tell the guys what my parents told me.

(Percy, **Nico**, Beckendorf, _Grover_)

Hey guys. I have some news for you.

-P

**Wht up Perce?**

**-N**

_Yea?_

_-G_

Wat up dude?

-B

My parents just told me that they r takin da prettiest girls throughout da kingdom and they r going 2 stay here for 6 months to train as princesses. Then, I have 2 choose 1 girl at a ball 2 stay for 6 more months. By the end of dat, if I still like them, I get 2 marry them.

-P

_WOAH!_

_-G_

No way!

-B 

**Lucky dude!**

**-N**

I no, but I don't think im lucky. Your girlfriends might come, but don't worry, I won't choose them, but they might be disappointed.

-P

**Hey! If u pick Thalia, I'll kick ur butt**

**-N**

Watever man. Thx for not choosing Silena.

-B

_I have a feelin u wouldn't have chosen Juniper anyway._

_-G_

Sure Nico. Well I gotta go guys. The girls r here. See ya ltr. Txt u with updates.

-P

Good luck man. Please tell me if Silena is there 2.

-B

_Bye Perce. Tell me if u see Juniper!_

_-G_

**Hey! I can totally beat u up! Nvrmnd, tell me if Thalia is there.**

**-N**

I wait in front of the door to the throne room where all of the girls are and hear my parents informing the girls about what's going to happen while they're here. Then I hear Aphrodite's perky voice saying that she will be their 'mom' for the next six months, training them to become a proper princess… blah, blah, blah. I zone out until I heard my name being said and I know that's my cue to walk in. The castle guards push open the doors for me and I walk in.

The sea of heads is overwhelming and they all turn towards me as I walk in. All of their faces look very attractive with green, blue, brown eyes and brown, blonde, black, and red hair. I make a mental note to avoid the redheads. There are squeals coming from all the girls and they all have similar expressions with their smiles and excited faces, but one girl standing in the front of the crowd stands out as I stand beside my parents on their thrones.

The girl had honey blonde hair that curled like a princess's with tan skin and a curvy athletic figure. Her high cheekbones and luscious lips bring out her most lovely feature, her intelligent looking grey eyes. She's glaring at me for some strange reason and her lips are turned in a frown.

_She's the girl from my dream! _

She notices me looking at her and I give her a small smile, but she rolls her eyes and looks away. Her friends standing around her whisper in her ear, but she shakes her head. Her friends are the girls I immediately recognize as the guys' girlfriends. Thalia Grace, a pretty Goth girl, Silena Beauregard, a very attractive blonde, and Juniper Woods, a pretty brunette. The girls look perfect for the guys.

"And ladies, here is my son I am sure you all know as Perseus Orion Jackson. You will most likely see him walking around the halls of the castle and you will see him at the ball in six months' time, of course," my mother says with a smile. I also smile at the crowd of girls and some of them swoon. I can't believe I have to meet with all of these girls individually in one night.

"Hello ladies. Welcome to my home. I hope that you enjoy your time here for the next six months and I am looking forward to meeting with you at the ball," I say, then give them a smile. My mother and step-father then ask Aphrodite to show the girls to their sleeping quarters and as the girls are walking out of the throne room, I can't help but watch the girl from my dream. I need to talk to her. I just have to.

_As Percy watches the girl walk out, he doesn't notice another pair of eyes watching him angrily from behind a curtain that would soon bring him trouble…_


	4. New Rooms and Running Into People

**A/N: Hey guys! I am updating fast so yeah. Thank you for the two girls who already submitted their characters! **_**bookwormgirl2497**_** and **_**18**_**! Since you two are my first character submissions, you will be the two girls in Unknown Love. Congrats! Also, **_**bookwormgirl2497**_**, would you like your character to be in Unknown Love, or that and my new story? Just wondering**_**. Wise Old Rabbit**_**, I might take up your suggestion on making Annabeth fall in love with another dude, for example, Luke? Tell me what you guys think? Give me your feedback! Remember, I still need two new dudes! Come on BOYS! We need you! Ladies, if you know any guys, please ask them to submit, or else I will have to make them up myself. Anyways, sorry for rambling! On with the story!**

**Chapter 4: The Beauty**

As the castle advisors led us outside of our high school, I kept thinking about how I have to leave my home and family for six months. _How could the Prince be so selfish to tear these girls away from their homes for six months? One of them will be gone for a year and I know it's not going to be me._

"All right ladies. The girls who I chose from Mr. Brunner's class, please come with me," said Mrs. Back, leading Katie, Piper, Thalia, Juniper, Silena, and I to a red van that was parked in the school parking lot.

"Climb in ladies. Unfortunately, it saddens me to say this, but we cannot stop at your houses to say goodbye to your families and to collect your belongings. I am very sorry, but the King and Queen said that you will receive new clothes when you arrive at the castle. If you have cell phones, you are allowed to call your families at this moment. Hop in the van and take a seat," says Mrs. Back with sadness. _That jerk! He won't even let us see our families! _I climb in the van and take a seat at the very end where a window is. The seats are surprisingly comfy and there is food and drinks spread out throughout the van.

"This van is so cool! I can't believe that one of us in this van might actually get a chance of marrying the prince!" says Silena with excitement.

"I know right! Although it sucks that we can't see our families, we'll see them soon," says Piper, a very attractive girl with choppy brown hair and eyes that can't seem to stop changing colors. Katie is also pretty with her long brown hair and big green eyes. The rest of the girls murmur in agreement with Piper.

"I know… married to Percy… he better like black," I knew the he better like black was Thalia. I stay silent throughout the whole drive to the castle when Juniper turns to me.

"Annabeth, are you okay?" she asks with concern.

"No. Who said I want to marry the Prince? I don't want to be torn away from my family for six months! Prince Percy is so selfish!" I say angrily as all heads in the van turn to me.

"Well, we didn't agree to this either, but this is an amazing chance! You get the chance to know the real Percy and becoming his wife," says Juniper with concern.

"I'm only 17. I haven't even finished my senior year! Let's just forget about it. Were here anyways," I say as we drive through massive gates and pull up in front the huge entrance of the castle.

"Ladies, please step outside of the van and please wait for further instruction," says Mrs. Back, this time with a happier tone. We walk out of the van and the other vans pull up beside us. Once all of the girls are out of the vans, I see that there are about three hundred girls all together from our school and other schools throughout Atlantis. The clusters of girls listen to their assigned advisors for instruction on where to walk.

"Welcome to the Palace of Atlantis. I am sure that you will enjoy it here or the next six months with its luxuries. Please follow me to the throne room where King Paul and Queen Sally will explain everything in much more detail," says Mrs. Back with a smile. She walks inside the building and the other groups of girls follow her lead, as we also follow closely behind her as well. When we walk inside the building, I am immediately intrigued to the beautiful architectural design of the palace, with intricate design on the ceiling, the magnificent amount of colors on the curtains, and the marble pillars are gorgeous. I am too busy noticing the designs, I almost run into Mrs. Back as she stops in front of a door. She then opens the door and I see the king and queen sitting on their thrones in the middle of another beautiful interior design. We continue walking until I stop at the very front of the throne room right next to the center aisle, with my friends beside me. The other girls shuffle in behind me and on the other side of the room.

"Welcome to our wonderful palace young ladies. As you have heard by our wonderful advisors, you will be staying here for six months and…" I tuned Queen Sally as she explained the basics of what is going to happen while were here. No wandering around the halls at night, behave, listen to your advisors, blah blah blah. Then, a very beautiful woman comes out and stands next to the king and queen. She has long golden blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes.

"That's my mom," Piper whispers behind me. I look at her in shock. I learn that her name is Aphrodite and she will be our 'mom' for the next six months, training to become princesses. King Paul then says Prince Percy's name, and all heads turn around as the wood door opens.

The guards push open the door for Prince Percy as he walks in. _Wow, he's too lazy that he has to have someone else open a door for him. _As he walks down the aisle and stops by his parents thrones, he flashes a smile and girls squeal at the sight of him, but I glare at him and my lips are turned in a frown. He does look kind of cute wearing a white shirt with a black jacket over it and black jeans and converse. _What are you thinking?_ His eyes scan the crowd and they stop on me. _Weird. _At first, he has a look of shock on his face, but then he hides it and gives me a small smile, but I roll my eyes and turn away. All of my friends whisper to me,

"He's looking at you… lucky… he likes you… he looks like he's attracted to you," they all say, but I shake my head no.

"And ladies, here is my son I am sure you all know as Perseus Orion Jackson. You will most likely see him walking around the halls of the castle and you will see him at the ball of course in six months time," says Queen Sally with a smile. Prince Percy also smiles at the crowd and some of the girls swoon. _I can't believe that he has to meet with all of us __**individually**__ in one night._

"Hello ladies. Welcome to my home. I hope that you enjoy your time for the next six months and I am looking forward to meeting with you at the ball," he says and gives us another smile.

His mother then asks Aphrodite to show us to our sleeping quarters and we all walked towards the door with Aphrodite leading the way. As I walk out with my friends, I feel that someone is watching me, but I don't bother to turn around and see who it is.

Aphrodite then leads throughout the halls of the castle and stops at a long hall that seems endless.

"All right ladies. This hall is where all of the bedrooms are and where you will be staying with the group of girls you came with and two new girls," Aphrodite says with a dazzling smile. She then assigns different names to the rooms. My group of friends and I wait endlessly until she finally says our names to the final bedroom, along with two other girls names, Victoria Sparks and Cassandra Louise Jenson. **(A/N: There you are** _**bookwormgirl2497**_** and **_**18)**_

"Thank you ladies for waiting so patiently. Here is your new room for the next six months and we have designed it to your accommodations. Have fun," she says with another smile and walks off. Before we walk into our room, Thalia introduces us to our new roommates.

"Hi. I'm Thalia and these are my friends Piper, Katie, Juniper, Silena, and Annabeth. Just a heads up, if you mess with my stuff, you're dead," she says with a smile and thankfully, they laugh. Victoria introduces them.

"Hi Thalia. I'm Victoria Sparks but you can call me Vicky and this is my best friend Cassandra Louise Jenson but you can call her Cass," she says with a smile. Victoria is very pretty with her long, straight, reddish-brown hair and her dark brown eyes with flecks of red. Her height looks about 5'8 and she is wearing a plain silver shirt with a black jacket over it and white shorts. I can tell she is easy going and sporty because she is carrying a skateboard.

Cassandra is also very attractive with her shoulder length, chestnut brown, curly hair and leaf green eyes. She is also the same height as Thalia, 5'8. I can tell she is smart and pleasant to be around because of what she is wearing, a light green ruffle tank top that brings out her eyes and a gray knee length skirt.

"Hi. Nice to meet you. As you already know, I'm Cassandra Jenson, but call me Cass. Ready to go in?" she says with a smile. I smile back at her for the first since we arrived here and nod yes. We walk in and I see the biggest and most welcoming room I have ever seen. The room has stairs leading to the upstairs floor where the bedrooms are and the living room is amazing. There is 42' inch flat screen TV and a light green couches positioned in front of it with white lamps on the side of the couches. There is a balcony on the other side of the couches decorated with flowers of all kinds. Behind the living room is a kitchen with granite countertops and lavender painted walls. The living room walls are painted a baby blue and floor is shiny wood. There are chairs on the balcony where we could relax and enjoy the view of the sea. The girls squeal and jump onto the couches. I slowly walk in, my mouth wide open in shock. Cass flopped down on her back on one of the couches and said,

"Wow. The ceiling has such an intricate design! And I see Ancient Greek and Latin on there too!" she says with a smile.

"You can read Ancient Greek and Latin?" I ask her.

"Yeah. I learned when I was 14. I loved it ever since" she says, her cheeks blushing a little bit.

"That's cool! I learned when I was little. Hey guys let's go see the bedrooms," I say to her and then to the rest of the girls. We walk up the stairs and again, I am amazed.

What I thought to be bedrooms is instead a huge room with different beds that fit our styles. Juniper ran over to an oak bed with a white and green floral bedspread and pillows with an oak nightstand next to it. A picture of a 'Save the World!' sign hung right above her bed. There was a wood desk next to the nightstand pushed up against a corner of the room that had several books about the environment

Silena then skipped over to a white bed that had a hot pink and black checkered bedspread and pillows with a white nightstand next to it. A magazine cover for Teen Vogue hung in a picture frame hung above her bed with Dianna Agron on the cover. On the nightstand was a pink lamp and had a makeup bag sitting to next to it. Next to the nightstand was a huge white wardrobe that I am sure was filled was clothes.

Thalia walked over to a black bed that had a black and dark blue plaid bedspread and pillows and a gray nightstand next to it. A picture that said 'Death to Barbie' hung above her bed that matched one of her shirts. Next to the gray nightstand, there was a silver archer's bow and a target on the wall opposite of her bed.

Piper ran over to a gray bed with a light blue and white bedspread and had a grey nightstand next to her bed. A poster of a snowboarder hung above her bed that seemed to suit her because of her snowboarding jacket that she is wearing. Next to her bed on the other side, there is target with a dagger hanging next to it. I remind myself to never mess with her.

Katie walks over to a light brown bed that has a light green and purple floral bedspread and a light brown nightstand next to it. On the nightstand, there are gardening tools that I guess means that she likes to work in gardens. On the other side of her bed, there is a very large window overlooking the castle garden with white, almost transparent, curtains.

Cass walks over to a white bed with a grey and Caribbean blue plaid bedspread with a white nightstand next to it. On the nightstand, there is a light blue lamp with several books on Ancient Greek and Latin. On the other side of her bed, there is a target with a blue archer's bow hanging next to it. On the other side of her nightstand, there is a large window overlooking the castle grounds, which is a magnificent view.

Vicky walks over to a grey bed with a blue and silver checkered bedspread and pillows and a white nightstand next to it. There is a picture of music notes with several sport names on the edges that I guess means she likes sports and music. On the other side of her bed, there is a simple white desk with a green and brown notebook on it. Next to the desk, there was a silver guitar leaning against.

The last bed I saw was white with a yellow and grey floral bedspread on the farthest side of the room to the left that wasn't as close to the other beds. There was a simple brown picture frame with a picture of books in it hanging above the bed. On one side of the bed, there was a white nightstand with a yellow lamp on it and on the other of my bed there was a large bookcase with my books from home. Next to the bookcase, there was a large window overlooking the ocean with white curtains. I walked over to the bed and sat. _This is very comfy._ The whole room was magnificent. **(A/N: The descriptons took me a long time to write!)**

"Wow. This is amazing," I say with awe.

"Someone's warming up to the idea of being here" said Piper. I laugh nervously in response.

"Hey guys, I found a note on my desk," says Vicky. We all walk over to see what it says,

"Let me read it aloud," says Vicky

_Dear Ladies,_

_ I am sure you have found your sleeping quarters to your liking. Yes, Piper Mclean is my daughter as she has told some of you. Silena has the wardrobe filled with her need of clothes, but all of the other clothes are found next to Juniper's desk. You will find a small button on the far left corner of her desk. Push it, and then a door will open to your left. Inside you will find a very large closet filled with clothes to your preference. There is also a map of the palace attached of several places to go when you have free time every day._

_Once you are settled in, you are allowed three hours to go to things to your liking, and then you must come back to your quarters for dinner. Dinner will be set on the table when you arrive. Have fun!_

_~Aphrodite_

"That's really helpful. Can I see the map Vicky?" asks Juniper. She looks at it closely then says,

"I'm going to the castle garden. Anyone want to come?" she asks.

"I'll go. See you later guys," Katie says to all of us and then she and Juniper leave.

"I'm going to stay here and practice on my target. Anyone care to stay?" says Piper.

"I'll stay. Let's go," Cass says.

"Yeah, me too. Watch out ladies, I've been practicing years," Thalia says with a laugh, and then they walk off.

"Well I'm going to see the royal wardrobe for us girls. I don't think anyone here wants to join me," Silena says with a smile.

"No, I think we're good. I'm going to the music room. Bye," says Vicky.

"Bye. I'm going to the library. See you guys later," I say. I look at the map before I go and go downstairs and walk out the door. I turn to the left towards the library and see other girls walking around the halls in the other direction. _I guess nobody wants to go to the library. _I walk down the hallway for what seems like forever until I finally see the corner leading to the library on my right.

"Finally," I mumble to myself. When I turn around the corner, I run into the last person I expected to see.

**A/N: I know, I'm evil for leaving you a cliffhanger. You may or may not know who she runs into, but I think you do. Anyways, if you didn't get a chance to submit a character for my story, you can still submit one for my new story that is coming out in June. I still need two boys! Tell your guy friends ladies! I will probably be updating later this week, and by that time, I need two boys, or else I need to make them up myself. You know what you need to do! Review!**


	5. Smiles and Disappearing Pennies

**A/N: Hey guys! I just checked my email today for the first time since I published this story and all I can say is, wow. These are the people who put me on story alert, author alert, favorite story, etc.** _**Gluxa-and-Percabeth, Hannibalrider, thorude, SingleSilver, perceyjackson777, hiyathere123, conversella, ChunkLi, Annabeth-Kahlan-Alanna-Cara, thisismimi, love me forever04, bookwormgirl12497, Wise Old Rabbit, xcheerforlife, 18, blackfang123, hija del mar, cottloverforever, Nickicece, fatotron, Kristy Mayhem, Jason'sLover, DaughterofAphrodite13, Alexona Veil, and rhayshae.**_ **These are my reviewers so far! **_**Alexona Veil, 18, Jason'sLover, IFoundAPickle, bookwormgirl12497, fatotron, Nickiciece, Wise Old Rabbit, pippy2468 claimed by Hades, and booklover484. **_**And now on with the story!**

**Chapter 5: The Prince**

The ocean was calm and peaceful and there was soft breeze blowing through my hair. I was in my secret hideout that I made when I was nine. Inside the library, there is a secret door that opens up to a long and winding staircase. The staircase leads to a room with windows wall to wall all around and flowers blooming inside and outside. From the room, I have a perfect view of the ocean and sometimes I open the window to feel and smell the soft breeze coming from the ocean. I come up here when I need to clear my head or I'm having a bad day. Like now for instance. I could not get the grey-eyed girl out of my head. I stayed up there for another hour and left downstairs. When I entered the library from the secret door, I saw my five advisors, Luke Castellan, Travis Stoll, Jason Grace, Jared David Blake, and John Sparks.

Luke Castellan was my first advisor and he is also one of my closest friends, besides the guys. He has messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His rugged face, tall and muscular physique, and charms are what make him a ladies man. He always has girls drooling over him and flirting with him. What makes him mysterious is that he has a jagged scar running just along the bottom of his left eye and ending just above his lip.

Travis Stoll is tall and skinny and mischievous looking with his curly brown hair that covers his blue eyes and his crooked smile. He is the prankster out of my advisors who loves to play pranks on people, but can be loyal and caring when he wants too. He is completely himself around his girlfriend Katie Gardner.

Jason Grace is tall and muscular and is also a ladies man, but not as cocky as Luke. He's more secluded and attracts girls in a quiet way. He has electric blue eyes and has cropped military style blonde hair. Jason is very loyal to all of his friends and is a natural born leader. He is especially loyal to his girlfriend Piper Mclean.

Jared Blake is a great friend who loves, and I mean loves, sports. He has the skater look with a beanie with jeans and a skater t-shirt. He has messy, curly dark brown hair and baby blue eyes. He loves to skateboard, eat pizza, watch TV, and is very fit and tall, about 5'9. Although, based on his favorite things to eat and hobbies, I'm surprised that he isn't a little pudgy yet.

John Sparks, he likes us to call him Johnny, is a very easygoing guy and his look shows it. He wears band t-shirts, jeans, vans, and a baseball turned backwards. He is very musical and is in a band at his school playing the guitar. He has dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He is about 5'10 and a caring and funny friend. He and Jared just became my fourth and fifth advisors about a year ago and they are already good friends of mine. The group of five were talking in a small group by the window that overlooks the ocean. Travis was the first to notice me and told the others. They smiled at me and motioned me over.

"What up Perce. What are you doing in the library? You usually avoid this place like the plague," says Jared with a crooked smile.

"I could say the same for you. I'm here looking for a, um, book. Isn't it obvious?" I say with a slight smile.

"You, looking for a book. Sure Percy," Travis says with a laugh.

"Whatever man. Anyways, what are you guys doing here?" I say quickly trying to change the subject.

"We just needed a quiet place to talk about how you get to hundreds of beautiful girls in one night and choose one as your wife," says Jason with a grin.

"Oh. That. I really don't want to talk about that right now," I say with a frown.

"Why not man? This is an opportunity of a lifetime," says Johnny.

"It's just, I feel bad for taking these girls away from their lives and for the girls that didn't get picked at all. Also, this is kind of awkward for me. Anyways, let's not talk about it right now," I say with a sigh.

"Percy, Percy, Percy. Always thinking of others before him. Alright, we'll stop, for now," says Luke.

"Thanks guys," I say with a grateful smile.

"By the way, Katie and Piper just text Jason and I saying that they are here in the palace as choices to _become your wife,"_ says Travis.

"Oh uh, sorry about that. Do you know who they're staying with in their quarters?" I ask innocently.

"Yeah. Six other girls named Thalitha Vase, Serena Boovegard, Kuniper Loods, Becky Farts, Lass Henson, and Annabelle Mase," says Travis.

"Uh, those are interesting names…" I say awkwardly.

"Those aren't the names you spaz. They are Thalia Grace, my sister, Silena Beauregard, Juniper Woods, Vicky Sparks, Cass Jenson, and Annabeth Chase," says Jason, rolling his eyes, while Travis blushes.

"That makes more sense. Thalia, Silena, and Juniper are Nico, Beckendorf, and Grover's girlfriends. Although I don't know who Vicky, Cass, and Annabeth," I say. When I said Annabeth, a chill went down my spine. _Weird._

"Vicky sounds like a very nice girl to me," says Jared with a smile.

"Dude, that's my sister! Anyways, Cass sounds nice to me," says Johnny with a smile also.

"Both if you guys don't even know the girls. Well, I have to go. So I'll see you guys later," I say with a laugh. We all walk towards the doors of the library and when we are out in the hall, the turn to the left and I turn to the right. I keep walking down the hall for some time until I reach the corner to turn left. But as soon I turn I run straight into someone.

"Oof," the mystery person. A flash of blonde is thrown in my face and I immediately smell lemons.

"Oh my gods! I'm so so-," I stop my sentence short as I take a step back and see who the mystery person is. It's the scowling, yet beautiful, girl I saw in the crowd this afternoon. The funny thing is that she is scowling at me right now.

"I-I am uh, um," I say flabbergasted.

"I'm so sorry whoever yo-," the beauty says as she recognizes who I am too.

"Oh, Prince Percy. I'm sorry for running into you. I should have been watching where I was going," she says, coldness edged into her voice and her scowl intensified.

"No, it's entire my fault. I'm sorry. And please, call me Percy," I say with a smile. A look of shock comes across of her face but it disappears as quickly as it came.

"Oh um, okay Pr- I mean Percy," she says, with an odd look on her face.

"And your name is?" I ask her, desperate to know who this beautiful girl is.

"Um, Annabeth. Annabeth Chase," she says and the coldness in her voice is slightly gone. _Isn't that the girl that's with the guys girlfriends?_

"Do you happen to be sharing your room with girls named Thalia Grace, Juniper Woods, Silena Beauregard, Piper Mclean, Katie Gardner, Cass Jenson, and Vicky Sparks?" I ask.

"Yes. How did you know that?" she asks suspiciously.

"Well, two of my five advisors are two of your friend's boyfriends and two of them have a sister there too. All three of my best friends are boyfriends of three of your friends too. Other two of my advisors seemed to like the named Cass Jenson and Vicky Sparks. Travis Stoll has Katie Gardner, Jason Grace has Piper Mclean, also the brother of Thalia, Charles Beckendorf has Silena Beauregard, Grover Underwood has Juniper Woods, Nico Di Angelo has Thalia Grace, and my other two advisors, Johnny Sparks, brother of Vicky, and Jared Blake seemed to like Cass and Vicky," I say with a good memory. Annabeth also looks fairly shocked.

"Wow. I know all of the boys except Johnny Sparks and Jared Blake," she says calmly.

"Really? How?" I ask confusedly.

"Well, I go to high school with them," she says.

"Wait, you go to Goode High School?" I ask in shock.

"Um yes," she says.

"How ironic," I mumble.

"What was that?" she asks.

"Nothing. By the way, where are you headed?" I ask Annabeth.

"The library," she says with another look of suspicion on her face.

"Oh okay. I was just in the library. I can show you there if I want," I say with another smile. This time Annabeth rolls her eyes. _What's her problem?_

"Uh sure," she says awkwardly as we start heading down the hall.

"Are you one of the girls to um, you know," I say as I stuff my hands in my pockets.

"Uh yeah," she says coldly again.

"I'm sorry," the words are immediately out of my mouth before I know why I said them.

"What are you sorry for? You took hundreds of girl from their homes for six months and one of them will be gone from their homes forever. What are you sorry for?" she says angrily.

"Look, this wasn't my idea. My parents just told me this morning and I was angry too," I say, slightly irritated with Annabeth.

"You could have stopped them! Do you know what it's like to be torn away from everything you love? None of these girls seem to care except me!" she says yelling as we stop in our tracks.

"Do you think that I wanted to do this? I didn't want to take girls away from their homes either! My best friends' girlfriends are here! That makes me feel guilty. When I came up in front that crowd, I didn't care about that anymore because I saw how excited all of the girls were!" I yelled back.

"Sure! Like I said, do you know what it's like to be torn away from everything you love? Your family, friends, home…" she says, tears brimming her beautiful grey eyes, but still angry. I had the urge to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be all right, but I held back.

"No…" I say quietly and guiltily.

"I thought not!" she says and storms off into the library. I see her wiping her eyes and I try and follow her.

"Annabeth wait! I didn't mean to upset you! I'm telling, I hate this as much you do," I say as I grab her arm and turn her around. When she turns around she is still crying, but she has a look of complete and utter shock on her face.

"I can't believe… you came after… hate it…" she mutters to herself. I put my hands on both of her shoulders and face her completely. I just realized how small she is compared to my 6 foot figure and her 5'8 height.

"I know I just met you, but I really am sorry. Please understand Annabeth," I say quietly.

"I guess so Percy. It's just… never mind," she says while wiping away her tears. I take my hands away from her shoulders and push open the library door for her.

"What? You're just so attracted to my rugged good looks?" I say while striking a weird pose as we walk in.

"HA! Sure but-," she snorts but stops talking when she takes a good look at our library.

"Oh my gods…" she mutters, her face in awe. I smile at how cute she looks when she's surprised. _What are you thinking? You just met this girl…_

"Well this is our library. It is pretty amazing," I smile at her and she smiles faintly back. I show Annabeth around the different sections of the library and she seemed to enjoy it immensely. The one section she was really into was architecture. She took some books and sat down in a dark blue plush chair in front of the window overlooking the sea. Every once in a while she would look up and we would talk about the most random things. Blue food, super heroes, horses, burgers, Chuck Norris, don't ask, and a bunch of other things. Eventually she quit reading and we talked for two more hours.

"I can't believe you stuck a penny up your nose and it disappeared," she said while laughing.

"It's true! To this day I don't know where it went," I say laughing alongside here.

"That's so ridiculous and weird," she smiles her gorgeous smile.

"What about you? Have you ever done anything stupid when you were younger?" I asked mischievously.

"Well, when I was seven, Thalia dared me stand upside down in my head. Of course I did. When I did, I realized that she didn't tell for how long, so I ended up staying on my head for so long that I passed out," she says blushing. **(A/N: I know! Not the best stupid thing!)**

"Oh wow. That is kind of stupid," I say.

"Whatever Percy!" she says while blushing even harder. She looks at her watch and her eyes widen in shock as she realizes what time is.

"Oh my gods, I have to get back to the quarters! I'm late for dinner!" she says as she leaps up from the chair and walks swiftly to the door.

"Hey wait up! I'll walk you back to your room," I say as we walk out the door and we practically run down the hall. We turn left where we ran into each other and we keep swiftly walking until we reach a long hallway filled with many friends.

"Well this is my quarters. Thanks for walking me back Percy. And thanks for apologizing," she says with a smile.

"My pleasure and you're welcome. I hope we'll see each other soon. Here's my phone number," I say as I hand her a slip of paper with my number on it.

"Okay. I'll text you later tonight or tomorrow. Good night," she says as she opens the door and I immediately hear girls chattering away inside.

"Good night," I say, fighting the urge to kiss her as she walks in the door and shuts it. I walk away feeling dazed and love struck. I reach my bedroom, eat dinner, get ready for bed, and fall asleep dreaming of Annabeth and her laugh that sounds like bells.

**A/N: Awww! Percy likes Annabeth. I hope you guys like this chapter and don't forget, I need a beta reader! I might update this weekend or earlier, just be prepared! REVIEW! **


	6. Romance Stories and a Mad Thalia

**A/N: Whats up fellow readers! Sorry I haven't been updating in a while! I have been really busy because all of our teachers decided to give us new projects and tests. But I am almost on summer break and when that time comes I will have a lot more time to update! Thank you for the new reviewers and people who put me on favorite story, author, story alert, etc. Still looking for a beta reader! And now on with the story!**

**Chapter 6: The Beauty**

"Oof," I say as I run into a mystery person that I can tell is very muscular and tall.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so so-" the person, I recognize as a boy, stops his sentence short as he steps back to take a good look at me.

"I-I am uh, um," the boy says, flabbergasted with a look of shock on his face.

"I'm so sorry whoever yo-," I say, but stop my sentence short also as I recognize who the boy is too. It's Prince Percy.

"Oh, Prince Percy. I'm sorry for running into you. I should have been watching where I was going," I say, coldness in my voice and I feel my scowl intensify.

"No, it's entirely my fault. I'm sorry. And please, call me Percy," he says with a smile. I'm shocked at his kindness, but I quickly hide it.

"Oh um, okay Pr- I mean Percy," I say, feeling a bit odd.

"And your name is?" he asks.

"Um, Annabeth. Annabeth Chase," I say, noticing that the coldness in my voice slightly gone.

"Do you happen to be sharing your room with girls named Thalia Grace, Juniper Woods, Silena Beauregard, Piper Mclean, Katie Gardner, Cass Jenson, and Vicky Sparks?" he asks.

"Yes. How did you know that?" I ask suspiciously.

"Well, two of my five advisors are two of your friend's boyfriends and two of them have a sister there too. All three of my best friends are boyfriends of three of your friends too. Other two of my advisors seemed to like the named Cass Jenson and Vicky Sparks. Travis Stoll has Katie Gardner, Jason Grace has Piper Mclean, also the brother of Thalia, Charles Beckendorf has Silena Beauregard, Grover Underwood has Juniper Woods, Nico Di Angelo has Thalia Grace, and my other two advisors, Johnny Sparks, brother of Vicky, and Jared Blake seemed to like Cass and Vicky," he says with excellent memory and I am shocked once more.

"Wow. I know all of the boys except Johnny Sparks and Jared Blake," I say calmly.

"Really? How?" he asks confusedly.

"Well, I go to high school with them," I say.

"Wait, you go to Goode High School?" he asks in shock.

"Um, yes," I respond.

"Bow ironin," he mumbles, but I don't understand.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Nothing. By the way, where are you headed?" he asks me.

"The library," I say suspiciously again.

"Oh okay. I was just in the library. I can show you there if I want," he says with another smile. For some reason, I roll my eyes at his kindness. _What is the matter with me?_

"Uh, sure," I say awkwardly as we start walking down the hall.

"Are you one of the girls to um, you know," he says as I see him stuff his hands out of the corner of me eye.

"I'm sorry," he says suddenly.

"What are you sorry for? You took hundreds of girls from their homes for six months and one of them will be gone from their home forever. What are you sorry for?" I say as my anger takes over me.

"Look, this wasn't my idea. My parents just told me this morning and I was angry too," he says sounding irritated.

"You could have stopped them! Do you know what it's like to be torn away from everything you? None of these girls seem to care except me!" I yell angrily as we stop in our tracks.

"Do you think I wanted to do this? I didn't want to take girls away from their homes either! My best friends' girlfriends are here! That makes me feel guilty! When I came up in front of that crowd, I didn't care about that anymore because I saw how excited all of the girls were!" he yelled back.

"Sure! Like I said, do you know what it's like to be torn away from everything you love? Your family, friends, home…" I say, feeling the tears threatening to pour out of my eyes.

"No…" he says quietly.

"I thought not!" I say and storm off to the entrance of the library. I wipe my tears and feel embarrassed. _Why did I have to cry?_

"Annabeth wait! I didn't mean to upset you! I'm telling you, I hate this as much as you do," he says as he grabs my arm and turns me around. _I can't believe he actually followed me. He hates it…_

Apparently I said that out loud because he responds to my thoughts. He puts his hands on both of my shoulders and faces me completely. I realize how tall he is compared to my 5'8 figure and his 6 foot height.

"I know I just met you, but I really am sorry. Please understand Annabeth," he says quietly and sincerely.

"I guess so Percy. It's just… never mind," I say as I wipe away the rest of my tears. He takes his hands away from my shoulders and pushes open the library door for me.

"What? You're just so attracted to my rugged good looks?" he says while striking a weird pose as we walk in.

"HA! Sure but-," I snort but I stop talking as I take a good look at the castle library. There are huge and wide bookshelves throughout the library and windows that overlook every inch of the castle, the ocean, and Atlantis.

"Oh my gods…" I mutter.

"Well this is library. It is pretty amazing," he says and smiles at me. I faintly smile back. Percy shows me around the different sections of the library and I could not hold in my excitement. When he showed me the section of architecture, I immediately grabbed some books and sat down in a plush dark blue chair in front of a chair overlooking the ocean. Every once I would look up from my book and Percy and I would talk about the weirdest things. Blue food, super heroes, horses, burgers, Chuck Norris, I know it's weird, and many other things. Eventually I quit reading and we talked fro two more hours.

"I can't believe you stuck a penny up your nose and it disappeared," I said while laughing.

"It's true! To this day I don't know where it went," he says while laughing with me.

"That's so ridiculous and weird," I say while smiling at him.

"What about you? Have you ever done anything stupid when you were younger?" he asks playfully.

"Well, when I was seven, Thalia dared me to stand upside down on my head. Of course I did. When I did it, I realized that she didn't tell for how long, so I ended up staying on my head for so long that I passed out," I say while I feel my cheeks redden.

"Oh wow. That is kind of stupid," he says.

"Whatever Percy!" I say, blushing even harder then before. I looked at my phone to check the time and I was shocked to find out that I was half an hour late to dinner.

"Oh my gods. I have to get back to the quarters! I'm late for dinner!" I say as I leap up from the comfortable chair and practically run to the door.

"Hey wait up! I'll walk you back to your room," he yells after me and then catches up to me as we walk out the library door together. We swiftly walk down the hall and turn left where we ran into each other and continue walking until we reach the door of my quarters.

"Well this is my quarters. Thanks for walking me back Percy. And thanks for apologizing," I say with a smile.

"My pleasure and you're welcome," _Did he really just say my pleasure? _"I hope we'll see each other soon. Here's my phone number," he says as he hands me a slip of paper with his number on it.

"Okay. I'll text you later tonight or tomorrow. Good night," I say. When I open the door, I hear all of my friends chattering away inside.

"Good night," he says. I walk in the door, shut it, and lean against it feeling a bit dazed_. He was so kind. A gentleman, funny, cute… NO! Not cute! Stop thinking this way Annabeth! _I am interrupted out of my thoughts as Thalia talks to me.

"Now why are you late missy?" Thalia asks me as all heads turn to me from the dining room table.

"Well, I kind of got caught up in my book," I say innocently.

"Where is your book?" she asks with a smirk _Crap_

"I guess I forgot it in the library," I come up with a quick response.

"Mhm," she says with a smile.

"Forget her Annabeth. Come and eat. I bet you're hungry," Vicky says kindly.

"Thanks. Where do I sit?" I ask because I can't see my own place to sit at the dining room table.

"Right here next to me," Cass says near the end of the table next to the window overlooking the sea. _I seem to be sitting next to the sea a lot today._

"Okay thanks," I say as I take my seat next to Cass at the very end of the table. I look at all of the girls dinner plates and noticed that their fitted to their food choices. I then look at mine and notice that it has my favorite food, hamburgers. **(A/N: I didn't know what to put. I put hamburgers because she eats them a lot in The Lightning Thief). **I immediately dig in, not realizing how hungry I was. The girls are in their own conversation and I occasionally join in, but then I stop as my mind wanders to Percy.

"Hey Annabeth, are you okay? You look like you're deep in thought," Piper says to me from across the table.

"Oh um, yeah. I think I'm going to get ready for bed," I say as I rise from my chair and put my plate in the sink.

"Okay. Well, we'll see you soon," Piper says with a smile. I smile back and walk upstairs to the large bedroom. I walk up to my bed and fall down on my back, trying to sort out my feelings.

"Annabeth dear, are you all right?" says a kind voice. I look up and see Mrs. Back, the advisor from earlier this morning.

"Oh. Hi Mrs. Back. I think I'm fine," I say.

"Well you look like you're lost. Care to share with me?" Mrs. Back asks as she walks over to the side of my bed and sits down. Even though her dark brown, wavy hair is pulled up into a bun and she is wearing sweat pants, she still looks very beautiful with her sea green eyes. I realize that they are very similar to Percy's.

"Mrs. Back-," she cuts me off.

"Please, call me Brianna," she says warmly and with a smile.

"Okay. Brianna, are you married?" I say quickly. She looks at me with a surprised look on her face.

"Why do you ask that?" she asks, but not rudely.

"It was the first that came to mind. I don't mean to pry," I say with an apologetic look on my face.

"No it's all right. But yes, I am," she says with a smile.

"I would be surprised of you weren't," I say and she chuckles.

"How did you meet?" I ask.

"Well, it's a long story. Would you like me to tell you?" she asks.

"Of course," I respond.

"It all began when I was in seventh grade. Cole, my husband, was becoming very good friends with my best friend and eventually they were together. I know it's young, but that was how it was in my day. Two days after they decided to be together, Cole made a harmless joke with another one of his girl friends, but my best friend took it the wrong way. She broke up with him. My best friend also realized how rude and disrespectful he was and she knew she made the right choice with him after all.

"But, he did not let go so easily. Before school, Cole would come up our small group of friends and make small talk. The same thing would happen during breaks between our classes. Our friends were beginning to become annoyed, so whenever he came over, they would ignore him and walk away, myself included. I felt horrible when I did that though. One day, when my friends decided to leave, I made the choice of staying and talking with him. My friends looked at me like I was crazy, but I ignored them and continued to talk with him. As the months went by, we became good friends, but he was still very rude. He was never rude around me, but I was still upset with him. Eventually we entered high school and my friends warmed up to him, but still cautious. He was my best friend.

"During our senior year, I began to develop feelings for him. I began to notice how green his eyes were, his curly blonde hair, and tall height. The only problem was that he was still rude. On my seventeenth birthday, he told me that he loved me and then gave me my first kiss. It broke my heart to say this, but I knew I had to," she paused for a moment. My face in awe and I urged her to go on.

"I said that I couldn't be with someone who would not respect and treat people correctly, even if he treated me correctly. He was shocked, but told me that he would try with his all his might to treat people better. I told him that I would pay attention and I did. A week before Prom, I talked to him and told him that I was proud of how he changed and I would have loved to be with the new and improved Cole Anderson. A week later, he took me to Prom and I told him that I loved him," she paused once more, but this time with a smile on her face.

"How sweet," I said, but knew that her story was not finished.

"We stayed together throughout or college years, we both attended Stanford, and he proposed to me when I was 21. We were married a year later and it was the happiest day of my life. One year later, we had a daughter and she completed us. He has always stayed true to his promise that he would never treat people wrong and I know he always will," she said and I knew she was finished.

"That is… an amazing story. It's so romantic and inspiring," I say in awe.

"I love him with all my heart and I know he does too," she says.

"What is your daughter's name?" I ask.

"Danielle. She will be 3 this year," she says.

"That's a lovely name. By the way, how come you don't use your husband's last name?" I ask.

"I only use my maiden name when I am at the castle. Anywhere else, I go by Brianna Anderson," she says.

"Oh okay. Your story has helped me in so many ways. Thank you," I say as I give her a hug.

"How dear?" she asks.

"To not judge a book by its cover. Cole was just a boy who gave off the impression, but also showed, of being a rude person. Even though he didn't know it, he was just waiting for something to help him be the kind person he really is, and you were that something," I say.

"I have thought of that also and I believe you are right. Well Annabeth, I hear the other girls coming upstairs, so I will bid you good night," she says as she gives me a hug.

"Good night. And thank you again," I say with a smile.

"No problem," she says as she walks down the stairs and leaves.

"Hey Annabeth, what were you guys talking about?" Katie asks.

"She was just giving me some advice. It's nothing," I say as I get up from my bed.

"Hey guys, let's check our closet," Silena says as she skips off towards Juniper's desk. We all walk over and stand beside Silena as she pushes the button to our closet. What we see when the secret door opens is amazing.

"Holy crap…" Thalia says. In front of us is a very large room filled with different sections labeled with our names. Inside of out section, there are various shoe racks, a make up desk, purses, hats, and jewelry. There are also many racks hanging with clothes labeled as Princess Training, Formal, and Casual. Each section is like its very large walk in closet decorated to our preferences. All of walk over to our sections and admire our new wardrobe. My make up, jewelry, hats and shoe section are not very large, but I am glad of that. My clothes and shoes all fit my personality and I am glad to see some items from home. I grab a pair of grey shorts and a yellow t-shirt from the casual section for pajamas and walk out with everyone else except for Silena.

"Silena, come on. We have to go to bed and you can look at all of your girly stuff tomorrow morning," Thalia says as she drags Silena away from her section and out from the closet.

"Wait no! There is so much to try on! NOOOO!" she yells as the closet door closes. All of us just laugh and think of how much of a drama queen she is. I change into my pajamas and climb into bed as the other girls follow my lead.

"Good night," Juniper says and we all say good night in response. I fall asleep thinking of Brianna's story and how maybe, just maybe, Percy might be a nice guy.

"Rise and shine ladies!" says a very perky voice as it wakes me up from a very deep sleep.

"Ughhh," we all groan.

"I know you want to sleep, but up up up!" the woman says and I know that it is Aphrodite.

"Alright alright… were up… why are you so perky…" we all say as we reluctantly rise from our comfortable beds. The only one who didn't even stir was Thalia.

"Let me try and wake her up," I say, walking over to her bed.

"Thalia, it's time to get up," I say as I gently shake her. Not even a breath.

"Seriously, wake up Thals," I say, pushing her even harder, but she doesn't even move.

"Nico's dead," I say with a serious tone.

"Wow. I feel sorry for Nico. She didn't move," Piper says while laughing.

"There's bacon downstairs," I say. Still nothing.

"Man, that girl can sleep," Vicky says.

"Cass has your 'Death to Barbie' shirt," I say with a smirk but Cass's eyes widen in shock. When Thalia hears this, her eyes snap open and she says,

"SHE'S DEAD!" she yells and leaps up from her bed. Cass screams and runs away from the dangerous Thalia. Aphrodite sighs, but laughs at the funny scene.

"Thalia. Thalia! I was kidding! Cass is innocent!" I say with a smile. Thalia apologizes to Cass and mutters a string of profanities.

"Well, now that Thalia is up, breakfast is ready," Aphrodite says with a smile and motioning us to go downstairs. Breakfast was like dinner, made to our preferences. Aphrodite told us to not get dressed for the day because our first class was makeovers. _Oh great._

"Follow me. The class is in the castle wardrobe and I am your teacher," Aphrodite says giddily. She leads us out our door and when we walk outside, many other groups of girls are following their own teachers to different areas of the castle. Aphrodite turned right and we followed for a very short until she stopped at a small door on her right.

"Were having a makeover class in _here_?" Piper asks with a confused look on her face.

"It is not what you expect dear," Aphrodite says with a smile. She opens the door and what we see inside is definitely not what we expected. There are racks and racks down a very long aisle filled with clothes organized by color, style, etc. They also tower over us and we are overwhelmed.

"Follow me over here girls," Aphrodite leading us down the long aisle and then turning to her left to reveal a brand new section of makeup and accessories. _I wonder what's on the right of the clothes aisle._

"Okay ladies. You each must go and pick out your preference of makeup that you would wear normally and then come back here to where we are standing. I will then tell you if your choices are okay or not. Then, I will either add or take away makeup from your selection and then I will give you each a lesson on how to apply the makeup properly. Understood?" Aphrodite says with an excited smile.

"Yes mam," we all reply. Silena immediately runs off and starts grabbing the makeup she thinks would look good with her, but we all know that anything would look good on her. Thalia picks out the darkest makeup and starts to wander around. The rest of the girls don't take as much makeup as Thalia and Silena, but they still pick out a good amount. The only things I pick out are a pale pink lip gloss and some mascara that I normally wouldn't wear. We all wander back to where Aphrodite is waiting and the only girl missing is Silena.

"While we are waiting, I will get started with Thalia. Take a seat over here," Aphrodite gestures to a chair in front a mirror that we did not see before.

"Now, your selection is a little dark. Try this and some of…" Aphrodite goes on and tells Thalia about her flawless complexion and eyes and she shouldn't cover it with all of her dark makeup etc. This was how it went with every one of us and every time one of us girls finished with Aphrodite, they all looked even more beautiful than they already were. Silena came back right before it was my turn to go and her arms were full of makeup. After Silena went, I was the last girl that had to go and I plopped down in the chair.

"This is all you chose?" Aphrodite asks.

"I don't normally wear makeup. I hate the feeling of gunk all over my face," I say.

"Well, I must say Annabeth you most definitely don't need it. Although, there are a few things I would consider adding, but it is not a lot. Let me apply your lip gloss and mascara first," she says. When she finished, I look like I would normally for a day at school.

"Alright. You look lovely, but see how your eyes seemed to be covered by the mascara? Now, if you add a small amount of eyeliner, your grey eyes pop. Also, add a small amount of light pink blush, and your cheekbones are more noticeable. See? You look beautiful," Aphrodite says while I look at myself in the mirror. She was right, with the eyeliner and blush, my eyes and cheekbones are more noticeable. It wasn't even uncomfortable.

"Wow. Thank you," I say in a small voice.

"No problem. We will now do the same thing we did with the makeup, but with clothes instead," Aphrodite says as we walk over to the clothes area. The same thing happens with the makeup and we all look even more beautiful as we walk out of the castle wardrobe and to our next class. _Maybe my time here won't be so bad after all._

**A/N: Finally finished this chapter! Longest one so far! Well I hoped you liked it. I will be updating soon. Review! Happy reading!**


	7. Childhoods and Fate

**A/N: Hey guys! I am back this weekend! Sorry I didn't update this week. I was really busy with THREE projects due in ONE week. Yes, three. My teachers are crazy. We are also really busy with new schedules, classrooms, etc. because we are future eighth graders next year! Sorry for my rambling, but I'm just excited. The way the story is going to go on for now is that the next two chapters will be a month later and Percy and Annabeth will be remembering stuff from the past month. They will relive different memories too by the way because I think it's kind of boring when I do the same event over and again. After that, I'm going to skip to the ball and when he chooses the girl. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter! On with the story!**

**Chapter 7: The Prince**

_One Month Later_

This past month, I have only seen Annabeth once since that day in the library and I enjoyed every moment of it. I'm sitting on the beach enjoying the summer breeze when I remember that I am in the exact spot where we were that day.

_(Annabeth, __**Percy**__)_

_Hey Percy_

_~A_

_**Hey Annabeth. Thx for texting back so soon.**_

_**~P**_

_No prob._

_~A_

_**So do u want 2 hang out sometime?**_

_**~P**_

_Uh, idk. I'm going 2 be busy with my lessons._

_~A_

_**Well I can give u a break. Picnic on the beach on Saturday?**_

_**~P**_

_Uh, sure. That sounds nice. What time?_

_~A_

_**4:00 and I'll meet u at the library.**_

_**~P**_

_Ok. See u then._

_~A_

_**K. See u.**_

_**~P**_

_ I walk in the door of the library and see Annabeth sitting in the same chair from when we talked for hours on her first day here. She is wearing denim shorts that aren't too short and a plain white tank top. She looks up from the book and smiles at me._

_ "Hey Percy," she says as I walk over to her._

_ "Hey Annabeth. Ready to go?" I ask her._

_ "Mhm," she says. We walk out the door and I lead her down the hallways until we reach the door that leads to the most private and nicest part of the beach. I open the door for her and her eyes widen in shock. _

_ "Wow. It's beautiful," she says. I take in the crystal clear blue water, the palm trees that sway in the breeze, and the soft sand. The weather is balmy, perfect for swimming. I gesture for her to follow me and we walk over to a blanket with a picnic basket on it under the shade of a palm tree._

_ "Thanks for doing this. Those classes can get pretty exhausting," she says as she plops down on the blanket._

_ "No problem," I smile at her as I sit next to her. "So, how are you liking the palace?" I ask._

_ "It's just so-"_

_ "-empty I know," I cut her off._

_ "I was going to say beautiful, but I guess empty works," she says with a chuckle. A small breeze lifts her golden curls from her shoulders and I think how beautiful she really is. Her stormy grey eyes are gleaming, but they still look intelligent. She has a natural slim frame and tan skin that doesn't look fake or orange like some girls have. Her pink lips look so soft that I could kiss her right then and there… What are you thinking Percy? This is the second time you've met her!_

_ "Uh, Percy. Are you okay?" Annabeth asks._

_ "Yeah, I'm fine. Do you want to eat now?" I ask her in response._

_ "Sure. What did you bring?" she asks._

_ "Were just full of questions. I packed some turkey and cheese sandwiches with pink lemonade, some barbecue Lays, and blue cookies," I say._

_ "That sounds good. Wait, did you say blue cookies?" she asks, confused._

_ "Yeah. My mom and I have this thing with the color blue and ever since I was little, she was always making things and turning them blue," I reply._

_ "That sounds nice…" she says in a quiet voice and she looks down at her hands, her face losing its jovial expression._

_ "What's wrong?" I ask sincerely._

_ "Well, my mom died when I was born so I didn't really have a mom when I was younger," she says sadly._

_ "Annabeth I'm sorry," I say as I move closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder._

_ "It's okay. When I was six, my father remarried and she was the mom that I always dreamed of," she says with a small smile._

_ "That's good then," I say, returning the smile._

_ "Yeah it was. Except, for those six years, I didn't have a mother to brush my hair after I took a bath, read me stories at bedtime, and take me on special mother-daughter outings. My dad did all of those things for me, but it wasn't the same and I knew he was still devastated from her death," she says quietly again and she puts her head on my shoulder. I didn't know what to say so I stayed quiet. Annabeth stopped talking and we sat there for a few minutes, my arm around her shoulder and her head on mine. I look down at her and she looks up at me, as if we both thought to look at each other. _

_ "I'm sorry to ruin the mood," she says._

_ "Don't worry about it. I'm glad that I'm getting to know you," I say, and I mean it. I notice that a piece of hair is in her eyes and I reach up and put it behind her ear, my hand brushing her cheek. A blush creeps up my cheeks and I notice that the same happens to Annabeth. We both slowly inch away from each other and I instantly miss the warmth under my arm._

_ "So, tell me more about yourself," Annabeth says._

_ "Other than I'm handsome, charming, and funny?" I say playfully. She punches me in the shoulder and says, "Sure. Come on, tell me something real."_

_ "Okay, first, owwww, second, that is all real, and third, owwww," I say with a smile while she laughs._

_ "Whatever Percy. Man up!" she says._

_ "Alright fine. Well, I love anything to do with water, blue things, and sea animals," I reply. _

_ "Interesting. I love Architecture, owls, and hamburgers," she says._

_ "Owls?" I ask at a loss. _

_ "It was my mom's favorite animal," she answers._

_ "Makes sense," I say in return. The rest of the afternoon passed by with us getting to know each other better and I learned that she is even more amazing than I imagined her to be. We eventually went to wade in the water a little bit and she pushed me in. I got revenge by picking her up and throwing her in the water. It was an amazing day. I walked Annabeth back to the library and we parted ways from there. The guys and I were supposed to play video games, but I just couldn't stop thinking about Annabeth. I eventually just left the guys and went back to my room. I went to bed thinking about her just like the past few days._

That day was wonderful and I was glad to have gotten to know my dream girl better (literally). The thing that was always on my mind though was why I dreamt her in the first place even though I have never seen her before. I finally came to one answer: fate. Fate caused me to dream of her, meet her, and get to know her. I couldn't wait for what else fate had in store for me.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a little short. I personally think this isn't one of my best chapters, but tell me if you think otherwise. I will try to update soon! Only 2 more weeks of school and then I will be able to update as much as I want! Until next time my readers!

~Skywriter5


	8. Almost Kisses and Letters to Juliet

**A/N: Hey guys! Last week of school! YES! This chapter is extremely cliché and you guys will probably be annoyed. I feel like I'm slowly getting worse as a writer, but I don't have writer's block. I have tons to write about. Anyways, on with the story…**

**Chapter 8: The Beauty**

For the past 3 months, Percy and I have seen each other once each month and each time was better than the last. The time after we met and went to the library, we had a picnic on the beach. That time, Percy was so considerate and understanding when I told him about my mom and my childhood, which I did NOT expect from him. The second, we hung out in the garden and joked around. I learned that his father lives in outskirts of Atlantis with his first wife, Amphitrite and their son, Triton. He visits time to time and he adores Percy, but his wife hates it when he does it because he cheated on her with Sally. This past month, we watched what is now ont of my favorite movies in the castle rec. room, Letters to Juliet_. _I thought he wouldn't enjoy it because of the romantic plot, but now that I look back on it, he did enjoy it.

All of the girls, Brianna, Aphrodite, and I were all having dinner after an exhausting day of learning how to waltz, when my phone started singing The Only Exception. I looked at the caller I.D. and saw that it was Percy.

"Um, excuse me. My dad is calling," I say hurriedly as I stand up. The girls and Brianna were looking at me weirdly while Aphrodite was grinning at me as if she knew Percy was the one calling. I walked to the living room and sat down on the couch while the conversation started again back at the table.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey," Percy said.

"Heyyyy dad," I say awkwardly, but he's called so many times that he knows the drill of me calling him dad.

"So, do you want to hang out on Saturday?" Percy asked.

"Sure," I reply.

"Great. Can you meet me at the rec. room at 7:00?" he asks.

"Yeah. Sounds good. See you," I say then hang up. I walk back to the table and when I sit back down, Thalia starts pestering me with questions.

"So why did your dad call you?" she asks suspiciously.

"Just to say hi and see how I'm doing," I answer.

"He seems to be doing that a lot lately," she retorts with a scowl. I know she's upset because ever since I met Percy, I have been talking with him over the phone or texting him whenever I have a chance and I have been spending less time with her.

"Thalia!" Brianna scolds.

"It's okay. Maybe he just really misses me. I mean, wouldn't you miss your daughter I she was gone for six months?" I answer back, but I feel bad about lying to the girl who has been my best friend since I was in diapers.

"Whatever," she mumbles and then starts poking around in her food.

I walk in the rec. room on Saturday and I see Percy facing a bookcase full of movies right next to a very large 50' inch flat screen T.V. I slowly walk up behind him, planning to scare him, but before I could, he whips around and says, "You know you can't scare me Annabeth," with that crooked grin of his.

"Ugh! Why is it that you can scare me but I can't scare you?" I say with a frown.

"I don't know. It's just a gift I have," he says with a shrug of his shoulders. "And this is another gift I have," he says mischievously. My eyes widen in shock as I realize what he is going to do.

"Percy, don't you _dare," _I say, but my protests are no use. He tackles me to the ground and starts tickling. He discovered I was ticklish when he poked me in the stomach playfully while we were at the garden and I started giggling like a little girl.

"NO! NO Percy! Stop! Come… ON!" I yell between laughs while Percy just grins. I try to kick him off of me, but he is just too strong for my liking. He tickles me for about 20 more seconds and when he finally stops, we both realize how close our faces are. I feel his breath on my cheeks and I look into those sea green orbs that I always get lost in. We slowly start to lean in, but right before our lips meet, I abruptly push him off of me. _Why did I lean in too? Did u actually _want _to kiss him?_

"So uh, what did you want to do?" I ask awkwardly as we both slowly stand up.

"Um, I was planning for us to watch a movie," he says as he gestures to three movies sitting on the couch in front of the T.V.

"Okay. What movie did you have in mind?" I ask.

"Well, I was going to let you pick. I asked my sister and she gave me three options that you might like.

"You have a sister?" I ask in shock.

"Well, my half-sister. She's my real dad's daughter, but she's married and has a daughter," he explains.

"Oh. What's her name?" I ask.

"Brianna Anderson. She is married to a guy named Cole Anderson and their daughters' name is Kailey," he says. "She's the sweetest and most beautiful little girl that's ever existed. Whenever she laughs, it's the cutest thing and even though she barely talks, she's kind to everyone. She will be a jaw-dropper when she's older with her wavy dark brown hair and her dad's bright green eyes," he says with a smile.

"She sounds adorable. I actually know your sister. She was the advisor assigned to our group when she chose is at our school. Your sister is an amazing person," I say.

"Really? Small world. But yeah, she really is amazing. I love her a lot and she has helped me with every problem I have gone through. She was always there for me," he says.

"Well, she helped me on my first day. She helps me when I have trouble with some of my classes or she just gives me advice. Anyways, can I see the movies that you had in mind?" I ask.

"Sure. I picked out three, Eragon, I know it's kind of a kid movie, but I loved the book, Titanic, a little sappy for my taste, but still great, and Letters to Juliet, I haven't seen it before, but I heard it was good," he says.

"Good choices. I loved the book Eragon, but the movie did not do it justice. I've seen Titanic way too many times, but I haven't seen Letters to Juliet yet, so we can watch that," I say as I sit down on the, surprisingly comfy, black leather couch.

"Okay. I was curious about that movie too," he says and then puts the movie in the DVD player. He automatically skips to the menu and presses play. The movie started off good and I admitted to Percy that I thought Sophie's fiancé, Vincent, was really cute. The movie slowly got better when Sophie, Claire, and Claire's grandson, Charlie went to look for Claire's lost love. Charlie was so hilarious whenever he was with Sophie and the little spats they had. The movie had a perfect ending and when Charlie and Sophie kissed, Percy and I looked at each other and we both turned away awkwardly. We talked for about another hour or so and he walked me back to my quarters afterwards. It was a fun night, other than us almost kissing, and I went to bed wondering why I had wanted to kiss Percy.

**A/N: I know I know, bad ending. But I did not know what to write at the end, so another cliché thing. By the way, I want to thank everyone for not giving me flames, but advice and criticism is always accepted. Also, feel free to give me ideas for what I should write in the future. REVIEW and until next time!**

**~Skywriter5**


	9. Tuxedos, Dancing, and Girls Oh My!

**A/N: Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry! I had writer's block, but my friend helped me out. I want to thank and acknowledge my new Beta-Reader **_**PandaFellOffTheSlide **_**who has edited most of my chapters so far and will continue to edit the rest of the story. I didn't send this one to him though because I made you guys wait long enough. Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes (which there probably are), but like I said, I wasn't able to send this to my beta-reader. Continue reading…**

**Chapter Nine: The Prince**

"Do you like this one?" Grover asks me and I shake my head no. We were in the men's area of the castle wardrobe looking for a tuxedo since tomorrow night was the ball and so far, I haven't found one tux that seemed to fit or look right. The guys and my advisors had already chosen their tux and now I was the only one. One tux caught my eye behind a rack of turquoise tuxedos. _What kind of a person would wear a turquoise tuxedo? _I grabbed it and noticed how simple, yet good-looking it was. It was a plain black dress jacket with a pressed white shirt under. The bow tie was black and it didn't look too dorky like some of the other tuxedos I tried on previously. I went to one of the many dressing rooms and tried on the jacket with the white shirt. It fit perfectly.

"Hey guys, I found one," I say as I reach the door where all of my friends are standing together laughing about something.

"That's a nice one. Where did you find it?" Johnny asks me.

"It was behind a rack of turquoise tuxedos," I say with a laugh.

"Nice," Jason says.

"I know right," I answer. When we leave, the thing that is on my mind for the rest of the say was whether or not the tuxedo that I chose would impress Annabeth.

I wake up the next morning with a feeling of dread and excitement at the same time. The dread is if I would pick Annabeth because she is my best friend and I have never been more comfortable around a girl than I have with her. But when we almost kissed, she pushed me away. Did she not like me and only wanted to stay friends? I ate breakfast with my parents in silence and for the rest of the day, the entire castle staff was in a flurry trying to prepare for the ball. My parents had put on the invitations that this ball was to be called the Unknown Love Ball and was to be at five o'clock since I had to dance with so many girls. When I finished getting ready at four thirty, the shock hit me of what was happening hit me and I realized that I would be getting married at least in a year. I'm sitting in my room by the window with my head in my hands when the guys and my advisors walk in laughing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Luke asks with concern. I lift my head and see everyone crowded around me, their faces showing worry.

"Tonight I'm going to pick the girl that I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. It's a lot to take in," I say softly, "What if I don't pick the right girl?"

"You will pick the right girl. Sure, it's a little early, but you are already an adult. Tonight, when you meet with those beautiful 300 girls, you will know when you see her. How she acts, how she talks, it will all be perfect. Don't worry," Grover says comfortingly.

"I sure hope you're right. Thanks. I really needed a pep talk," I say with gratitude.

"No problem. By the way, make sure that your perfect girl isn't Vicky Sparks or Cass Jenson," Grover says, looking at Johnny and Jared.

"Why?" I ask at a loss.

"Why don't you guys explain," Beckendorf says.

"Well, for the past three months we have had girlfriends," Jared says, his cheeks flaring up.

"So that's why you two could never hang out," I say with a smile, feeling better than my previous mood.

"Yeah," Johnny says, blushing alongside Jared.

"I'm guessing the two girls are Vicky and Cass," I say knowingly and they nod in response. "When did you meet them?" I ask.

"When we were all hanging out one day, you were with your dad, Aphrodite asked us to be with one of her groups to help them to learn how to waltz and it was their group. Johnny was Cass's dancing partner and I was Vicky's," Jared says with a dreamy look on his face.

"We really liked them so we asked them out. After that one date, they started sneaking to meet up with us and we would either do stuff separately or double date. We planned to keep it secret until tonight but the guys ran into us one night when we were all heading to the game room to watch a movie," Johnny says.

"That's great guys. I'm happy for you and don't worry, I won't pick them," I say and they sigh in relief.

"Hey guys, it's time to go," Nico says as he looks at his cell phone. I get up from my seat and walk behind my friends out the door then turn right to the ballroom. We walk in silence for about five more minutes until we reach the large doors of the ballroom.

"You will have to wait. We will make proper introductions for all of you," says a guard standing in front of the door. He opens the door and says to get in a line. The order is Johnny, Jared, Luke, Travis, Jason, Nico, Beckendorf, Grover, and then me.

"John Sparks, son of Duke Matthew Sparks," the guard says and he walks in.

"Jared David Blake, son of Duke Aaron Blake," he says.

"Luke Castellan, son of Duke Hermes," he says.

"Travis Stoll, son of Duke Adam Stoll," he says.

"Jason Grace, son of Duke Zeus," he says.

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Duke Hades," he says.

"Charles Beckendorf, son of Duke Hephaestus," he says and I see him flinch when the guard said his first name and I snicker.

"Grover Underwood, son of Duke Travis Underwood," he says.

"And finally, Perseus Jackson, Prince of Atlantis, son of King Paul Blofis and Queen Sally Blofis-Jackson," he says and I put on a smile and walk in. The decorations that I see truly amaze me. On the top of the stairs, I see tables for the guests on my left, a clearing for dancing in the center, and on the right, many empty tables that I am guessing are for the girls. The golden arches surrounding the room look even more magnificent than normal with small lights hanging from the frame that look like door beads. The tables have a simple white cloth over them and the chairs are a deep red with a golden outline. The small orchestra is on a small platform in the center of the ballroom, but in the far back. I walk down the stairs and the crowd parts at the foot of the double stairs and I give them a small nod and walk to the table set for my family. When I walk towards to the table, I see Cole and Kailey sitting at our table and Kailey looking as bored as ever.

"How's my favorite girl?" I ask her and she jumps in surprise.

"Pwecy!" she squeals and leaps up from her seat and jumps into my waiting arms.

"Careful, you'll ruin that pretty dress of yours," I say with a laugh while she gives me a tight hug.

"I'm just happy to see you! You like my pwetty dress?" she asks with that adorable accent of hers.

"It's gorgeous. I love the purple flowers," I say and she grins.

"Tank you. Daddy and mommy helped me pick it out," she says.

"And boy was she picky," Cole says with his deep voice.

"I'm sure she was. Aren't all girls?" I ask and he laughs.

"Of course. Her mother was when she went shopping for a wedding dress. She took weeks!" he exclaims and I laugh.

"That's my sister. By the way, where is she?" I ask.

"Since she was assigned with her group, she has to walk in with them too," he says.

"Oh okay. Makes sense," I say.

"Pwecy? Will you dance with me later?" Kailey asks.

"I would love to dance with you. But it will have to be a little later since I have a lot of other girls to dance with," I say and she nods with understanding.

"Now what about grandpa?" a familiar voice says and we both turn around to see my dad, Poseidon looking exactly like me, but an older version. We both have jet-black hair and sea green eyes.

"Gwandpa!" Kailey squeals once more and she hops from my arms into his.

"Hey sweetie. How's my best girl?" he says.

"Gweat! Pwecy said he would dance with me!" she says.

"That's great! Don't forget your grandpa too," he says.

"Okay! Let's go right now! The music is starting!" she says then pulls his hand to the dance floor as he marvels at the little girl's strength.

"That's my girl," Cole says and we both laugh.

"Yeah. She's pretty amazing," I say.

"And I love her to death," he stares at her small figure stepping on my dad's feet as he dances with her.

"Who doesn't?" I say and he nods.

"Well, she does count as a princess," he turns and I realize that she does.

"That's true. Man, I hope she won't marry a snobby prince. Like Rachel's little brother for example," I say and his eyes widen.

"We would never do that to her. That would be horrible. But we were considering doing what your parents did to you. Taking all the young men throughout the kingdom and letting her choose one," he says.

"I guess that's a good idea…" I trail off.

"Are you ready to choose your dream girl?" he asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I say with a nervous laugh.

"Ladies and gentleman! It is time for the introduction of the Unknown Love candidates," a guard says at the top of the stairs and I know that was my cue to stand at the end of the stairs and greet each young lady.

"Good luck," Cole whispers and I give him a grateful smile. I walk at the end of the stairs and mentally prepare myself for the long night that will determine my fate.

**A/N: Sorry that it's short! I will try and update by this weekend or on Monday, but it will be hard since I have to get ready for camp next week. I will be gone without a laptop from Tuesday until Saturday. I am very excited today because in exactly a month, I will be 13! FINALLY!**

**I also have a question for you all, when is Annabeth's birthday? I heard it was July 23, but I'm not sure. **

**On my profile, there are three different links leading to wedding dresses. The initials CFW stand for Choices For Wedding. There are 3 different choices for the wedding dresses I had in mind, but you need to vote on my poll for it. Thanks to the 3 people who already did! I know one person, **_**LaughLoverCrystal, **_**voted for it since she is one of my best friends.**

**I will try to update soon. VOTE and REVIEW!**


	10. Birthday Hugs and Gorgeous Candidates

**A/N: Hey guys! I am very happy, sad, and mad because I received my first flame and it kind of upset me what the person said. But hey, it's a flame. Thanks to my buddy **_**Jayne Mays**_** who stuck up for me! Also, I have 98 reviews, so could we pretty please make it to 100? Please? One hundredth reviewer gets a cookie! Also, I just realized that I haven't been putting any disclaimers. Oops… Thanks to **_**PandaFellOffTheSlide**_** for beta-ing this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, sadly…**

**Chapter 10: The Beauty**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" someone screams in my ear, waking me up from my deep sleep.

"Ugh. Let me sleep," I grumble and put my pillow over my head, but it, along with my warm comforter, is yanked off of me.

"Wake up sleepy head! We have a lot to get done for the ball tonight," Silena yells in my ear.

"But it's my birthday! Let me sleep some more," I protest.

"Exactly! We have to make you absolutely gorgeous!" she squeals with delight.

"Fine," I say and reluctantly rise from my bed.

"Happy birthday! You're finally eighteen!" Cass says as she pulls me in for a tight hug.

"Thanks. I'm glad to finally be an adult," I laugh.

"Hey! We need to give her hugs too!" Thalia says and she, Piper, Katie, Vicky, and Juniper come to engulf me in a hug.

"Guys…need…to breathe," I say and they quickly let me go.

"Aright girls! Time to- Oh, I see you're already up," Aphrodite walks in and Mrs. Back walks behind her.

"Now why are you girls already up?" Mrs. Back asks.

"We decided to get up early and wish Annabeth a happy 18th birthday!" Juniper says and they both look shocked.

"It's July 23rd? I completely forgot! Come here," Aphrodite says and she gives me a hug. Like I haven't had enough of those already.

"It's okay. I almost forgot myself," I chuckle.

"Well congratulations," Mrs. Back and she gives a small hug.

"Since we have officially wished Annabeth a happy birthday, it's now time to prepare for the ball!" she says and everyone runs to the closet to get the dresses that they chose while I follow closely. For some reason, I have a strong feeling that Percy is going to choose me tonight, but there's a small voice in the back of my mind saying he isn't.

We walk in the large closet and I go to my section. I study my reflection in the mirror and notice how much my appearance has changed ever since I came to the palace. My golden curls are under control more, my stormy eyes seem to pop, and my figure looks slimmer.

"Hey Annabeth, did you decide on a dress yet?" Katie asks me. I'm debating over a silver mermaid dress and a midnight blue strapless gown.

"Yeah. I choose the blue one. I think it suits me best. The silver one is too tight and I feel like I can't breathe," I say.

"It's so gorgeous! I can't believe it was the only one and in your size," she says.

"Me neither," I say with a small smile.

"All right girls. Mrs. Back here is going to help me prepare you for the ball. She will do your makeup and I will do your hair. This will take a good portion of the day so please be patient until it's your turn," Aphrodite says.

"I will begin with Silena. I have a feeling she will take the longest," Mrs. Back says and we all laugh while Silena scowls. She sits in her chair in front of her mirror and Mrs. Back starts applying makeup to her face while we all hang out throughout our quarters. I read some Architecture books to try and keep myself occupied, but I can't help imagining what the ball will be like. Aphrodite told us that the King and Queen named the ball the Unknown Love Ball. I think it's a clever name. When Silena is finished with her hair and makeup, she looks even more beautiful than she usually does.

Her hair is pulled halfway up and halfway down, but the ends of her hair are curled. Instead of being tied with a rubber band or clip, it's in an elegant twist. (A/N: All of the pictures for the girls' hairstyles are on my profile, so I'm not going to go into much detail.) I can't even tell she's wearing any makeup because it looks so natural. We all gape in silence.

"Silena, you-you look-"Juniper says, but Silena cuts her off.

"Does it look horrible? Oh, gosh. I KNEW that natural look wasn't for me!" she exclaims.

"Are you kidding? You look gorgeous!" Piper responds and we all nod silently in agreement,

"Really? Aw, thanks you guys!" she says with a huge grin.

"Alright, Katie! You're next!" Mrs. Back says as her head pops out from behind the wardrobe door.

"Oh boy," Katie mumbles under her breath and we laugh. She walks in. An hour later she comes out cautiously, but, like Silena, she looks breathtaking. Part of her chocolate brown hair is pulled up on top of her head and the rest is let down. Her makeup looks completely natural, but she has a hint of green eye shadow, which makes her green eyes pop.

Piper goes next and when she comes out, her choppy brown hair is in elegant curls and pulled halfway up and halfway down with three simple white flowers in the back. Her color changing eyes look bluer today and she looks beautiful.

Thalia groans because she goes next, but I can tell that she is partly excited. When she comes out, her face is glowing. Her spiky black hair is pulled up in a messy, but somehow neat bun with little ringlets hanging on the side. The makeup that she has on makes her electric blue eyes pop and her cheeks have a rosy tint to them. She looks strikingly gorgeous.

Cass is very quiet when she goes in, but when she comes out, she's bubbling with excitement. Her shoulder length, chestnut brown, curly hair is shining and it seems to have grown past her shoulders over the past six months. Her leaf green eyes seem to be a much deeper green with the makeup that she has on and, like all of my other friends so far, she looks remarkable.

Vicky walks into the closet and comes out quicker than the others, but she still looks stunning. Her straight, red-brown hair is simply let down from her usual ponytail and her dark brown eyes with flecks of red popped with the small amount of deep red eye shadow. Other than her eye shadow, she appeared to have no other makeup on.

Juniper goes in worried, but comes out with a grin on her face. Her auburn hair is curled and up in a bun with curls hanging freely, but a piece of her hair is swept to the side on the front. There are two silver clips on the left side of her hair in the shape of fig branches. Her makeup looks environmental, if that makes sense, and she definitely looks like the nature girl she is.

Aphrodite calls me in with a giddy grin and I prepare myself for the longest makeover of my life. I close my eyes and sit there for two hours. Who knew it takes so long just to do hair and makeup?

"Alright Annabeth, we're done," Mrs. Back says and I slowly open my eyes. What I see in the mirror shocks me. My golden blonde princess curls are swept onto my left shoulder and there are two, thin, midnight blue headbands that are holding my hair and they seem to shimmer. I see my stormy grey eyes staring back at me and they pop with the simple makeup that Mrs. Back applied.

"Wow…" I whisper.

"You look absolutely beautiful," Aphrodite says and I smile in return.

"Thank you," I say.

"Oh it was no problem," Mrs. Back with a wave of her hands.

"Now it's time for the dresses. My favorite part!" Aphrodite squeals and I think how Silena might be her long lost daughter, considering how alike they are.

"Girls! It's time to put on your dresses!" Mrs. Back calls to them and they come running into the closet, but when they see me, they stop.

"Annabeth, you look amazing," Thalia says and I blush in response.

"Yes, you all look absolutely gorgeous. Now, go put on your dresses because the ball is in exactly thirty minutes and Mrs. Back and I still have to get ready!" Aphrodite says and we all scurry off to put on our dresses. **(A/N: Again, all of the dresses and shoes are in my profile so I won't go into much detail.)**

I walk over to my closet section and take out the midnight blue ball gown from the Formal section. The dress is strapless and tight until the waist. There is a little diamond design on the bodice and the bottom of the gown is in large ruffles. I slide on the gown, thinking about how glad I am that the dress is comfortable and look at myself in the mirror. My hair seems to look perfect for once, the dress compliments my body build, and I feel beautiful. Before I put on my strappy silver heels, I walk over to where all of the girls are standing in a group with their dresses on while Aphrodite and Mrs. Back are putting the finishing touches on their makeup.

Thalia is wearing a black and white print strapless ball gown, Silena a pink strapless flowing gown, Cass a Caribbean blue, strapless, flowing gown, Vicky a strapless, silver mermaid gown, Katie a strapless yellow ball gown, Juniper a strapless, blue-green flowing gown, and Piper a one-shoulder light blue flowing gown. They all look absolutely breathtaking.

Aphrodite is wearing an elegant, red, flowing dress with straps not at her shoulders, but right at her neck. Her hair is pulled up into a simple bun with a small piece of hair hanging freely on her right. Mrs. Back is wearing a strapless, white flowing gown with a gorgeous black design on the upper part and throughout her dress. Her wavy, chocolate brown hair is let loose and is billowing down her shoulders. They look even more stunning than when I first saw them.

"Okay, if Prince Percy chooses one of us, we all stay friends after this no matter what," Vicky says and we all smile and nod.

"Girls, it's time to go," Mrs. Back says and we all slide on our strappy heels. We walk out of the closet and I look back inside before the door closes thinking that this might be the last time we ever see this wonderful closet.

"Thalia, I have a confession," I say nervously as I catch up with her.

"What?" she says.

"You know how on the first day I was late for dinner, all of those phone calls I got saying from my dad, and how that one time you caught me sneaking out?" I said.

"Yes," she says suspiciously.

"Well, the reason I was late on the first day to dinner was because I met Prince Percy in the library and we talked for hours and I lost track of time. All of those phone calls were from him wanting to talk. The reason I snuck out that one time was to go watch a movie with Percy in the castle rec room," I say looking at my feet as they click on the marble floor on the way to the ballroom.

"WHAT?" she yells and all of the girls look back at us, even some from other groups, except Aphrodite because she is so far ahead of us. I don't notice Mrs. Back also turning her head as Thalia yelled.

"Keep it down!" I say.

"I can't believe that you were hanging out with Prince Percy! What happened to you hating him?" she scream-whispers.

"I did hate him when I first met him, but when I got to know him, he was really funny and nice," I say.

"I-I don't know what to say," she shakes her head as the other girls start to walk with us.

"What's going on?" Piper asks.

"Can I explain?" Thalia and I nod my head. She explains everything I told her and their eyes widen in shock.

"No way… You're so lucky… So that's where you went off to… That's so romantic," everybody's comments stop at Silena's comment.

"How is it romantic?" I ask her.

"Because. You sneaking off to be with him, him calling you just to talk with you, it's all… romantic!" she says.

"No, it's not romantic. Were just really close friends, and that's it," I say, but inside, I'm doubting my words.

"Whatever you say, but now he will most likely choose you," she says and all the girls mutter in agreement.

"She's right Annabeth," Mrs. Back and I turn my head towards her, not realizing she heard our conversation.

"Um, I still don't think he would choose me. Like I said, were just friends," I say.

"Girls! Come and line up!" Aphrodite says and I inwardly sigh in relief, glad to stop talking about Percy.

"Unfortunately, you girls are the last to be introduced, so you will have to wait a little while every other girl is introduced. Remember how we practiced walking up and down the stairs gracefully, but swiftly," she says hurriedly. "I'm so proud of you! You have all blossomed into wonderful young ladies," she says with tears in her eyes.

"Yes you have. It has been a pleasure being your advisor and I wish you good luck," Mrs. Back says as Aphrodite walks to the entrance of the ballroom to be ready for her introduction.

"Ladies and gentleman! It is time for the introduction of the Unknown Love candidates," a guard faintly says down at the entrance to the ballroom. He sounds so far away because there is about 300 other girls in front our group. We line up with Cass at the front and I end up at the back.

"Lady Aphrodite, the advisor who has cared for and tutored the young ladies for the past six months," the guard says.

"Lady Michelle Skye, the advisor assigned to group one," he says and the line moves forward.

"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Duke Ares," he says, and the line moves.

"Drew Hartley **(A/N: I didn't know what her last name was)**, daughter of advisor Elizabeth Hartley," he says and the line moves. Slowly, the line moves fairly quickly, but my feet start to ache after the first hundred girls. Eventually, after what seems like a lifetime, Mrs. Back is introduced.

"Lady Brianna Back, the advisor of group 38," he says and Mrs. Back walks gracefully in.

"Cassandra Louise Jenson, daughter of duke Logan Jenson," he says and I see Cass take a deep before she walks in.

"Victoria Sparks, daughter of Duke Matthew Sparks," he says and she confidently walks in.

"Piper McLean, daughter of advisor Aphrodite," he says and Piper walks in with a grace I've never seen before.

"Juniper Woods, daughter of Lynette Woods," he says and small Juniper walks in.

"Katie Gardner, daughter of advisor Demeter," he says and firm Katie walks in with a rare, easygoing smile.

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Duke Pierce Beauregard," he says and Silena walks in with a graceful strut.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Duke Zeus," he says and Thalia walks in with a grin.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of advisor Helen Chase," he says and I take a deep breath, put on a smile, and walk in.

**A/N: Cliffy! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I might or might not go to Cali tomorrow, and if I do, I will be there for 2 weeks and I will try my best to update while I'm there. If I don't, then I'm going to be too busy. Also, the polls are working again, so if you PMed me your answer, please go vote because I forgot to write down all of your answers. Thanks guys! REVIEW and VOTE!**

**~Skywriter5**


	11. Dancing and Choosing

A/N: Hey guys. I went on a writing frenzy yesterday and today, so here is chapter 11. There will be no author's note at the end. You guys will know why. Here is my one hundredth reviewer: _ffash1_. Here's a cookie and a virtual hug (::) Thanks to _PandaFellOffTheSlide_ for beta-ing this so quickly! Remember to vote one my profile and review! The songs used in this chapter are_: You Belong to Me_ by Jason Wade from Lifehouse, and _So Close_ by Jon McLaughlin. I will post the links the songs on my profile.

Oh, and just something to say, one of my bestest buddies, _Jayne Mays_, and I came up with this new texting abbreviation: Lal (Laugh a lot). Cookies to those who use it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a dude. I'm a girl.

Chapter 11: The Prince

"Lady Aphrodite, the advisor who has cared for and tutored the young ladies for the past six months," the guard says and Aphrodite walks in wearing an elegant red gown with her blonde hair up in a bun. She walks gracefully and swiftly down the stairs, gives me a slight nod, and I bow in response.

"Lady Michelle Skye, the advisor assigned to group one," he says and a young woman with raven black hair pulled into a bun with bright blue eyes walks in wearing a deep blue ball gown. I bow to her and she nods.

"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Duke Ares," he says and a very tough looking brunette walks in wearing a blood red dress. As she walks down the stairs, I notice that her dark brown eyes seem to have a reddish tint to them and instead of looking happy about meeting me, she looks like she wants to hurt me. She gives me a small curtsy at the end of the stairs and I give her a small bow. She goes to sit in her designated table and wait for the rest of girls to follow.

"Drew Hartley, daughter of advisor Elizabeth Hartley," he says and a very beautiful Asian girl walks in wearing a light pink dress that is a little too revealing for my taste. She has long, dark hair in ringlets and warm brown eyes. When she arrives at the bottom of the stairs, she curtsies oddly and I give her a stiff nod. The introductions seem endless. My neck starts to cramp up after the first 100 girls. When the guard announces what I think is the 225th girl, I look up abruptly. It's her name that catches my attention.

"Calypso Paige, daughter of Duke Atlas," he says and in walks in a girl so beautiful my jaw drops slightly and my eyes widen. She's wearing a white, strapless dress that barely touches the ground and a simple white sash at the waist. Calypso has long, caramel hair put in a side braid with a simple white flower, wide, exotic looking light brown eyes, and tan skin that I can tell is natural. When she walks down the stairs, she looks confident and when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, I give her a wide smile and bow and she curtsies elegantly in response. Her face stays in my mind and I keep sneaking looks to her table in between each girl. Eventually, I hear familiar names.

"Lady Brianna Back, the advisor assigned to group 38," he says and my sister walks in wearing a gorgeous white dress with black designs, her chocolate brown, wavy hair flowing down her shoulders. I bow stiffly, but not intentionally, and I give her a friendly smile while she nods.

"Cassandra Louise Jenson, daughter of Duke Logan Jenson," he says and Cass walks in wearing a Caribbean blue, strapless dress.

"Victoria Sparks, daughter of Duke Matthew Sparks," he says and Vicky walks in wearing a silver mermaid gown.

"Piper McLean, daughter of advisor Aphrodite," he says and Piper walks in wearing a light blue gown with only one strap.

"Juniper Woods, daughter of Lynette Woods," he says and a petite Juniper walks in wearing a green-blue, flowing dress.

"Katie Gardner, daughter of advisor Demeter," he says and Katie walks in wearing a strapless, yellow ball gown.

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Duke Pierce Beauregard," he says and my eyes widen, she's wearing a pink, strapless, gown and I see why Beckendorf adores her.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus," he says and Thalia walks in wearing a strapless, black and white print ball gown.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Frederick Chase," he says and when she walks in, my eyes widen and my jaw actually does drop. Her golden blonde, princess curls are pulled into a side ponytail held with two, thin, midnight blue headbands. Her dress is a midnight blue, strapless ball gown with a diamond design. She looks gorgeous. I quickly close my mouth and give her the nicest bow I could muster and a smile while she smiles back and curtsies with grace.

"That concludes our candidates," the guard says, his voice cracking on the end of his sentence from all of the names he had to read. The music starts up again and people start to dance on the dance floor. I realize that I have to pick a girl to have my first dance with, and fast. I walk over to Drew Hartley and she looks happy that I picked her first.

"May I have this dance?" I ask, extending my hand towards her.

"Of course, Prince Percy," she says and takes my hand. I learn from dancing with her that her favorite color is pink, she thinks every girl here is beneath her, and that she is a complete snob. After the dance, I quickly move on to another girl. The dances make my feet ache quickly. I can tell it's already been a few hours and I sit down at the table designated for the royal family to take a break. I see a boy and girl walk up to me and I recognize them as Travis's brother Connor, who isn't his twin, but could be, and Nico's older sister Bianca.

"Hey Percy. It's good to see you again," Connor says and I shake his hand and then give Bianca a hug.

"Good to see you too. How's working at your dad's company?" I ask him. Connor chose to work at his dad's company instead of coming to the palace with his brother.

"It's great. But the messages every day can get a little overwhelming," he says.

"Well, that's what happens when your dad is the messenger for the whole kingdom," I say.

"So, Bianca, how's college?" I ask her and she smiles at me with her eyes, which match Nico's.

"It's great. The work can get tough sometimes, but it's really fun," she says.

"That's good. It was nice to see you guys again, but I have to ask more girls to dance," I say.

"Okay. See you later," Bianca says.

"Bye Perce, have fun," Connor says and winks at me. I give them a small wave and decide to ask Calypso Paige to dance. I walk over to her table and I see her chatting with some other girls, but they all look at me as I approach.

"May I have this dance?" I say, extending my hand towards and she smiles warmly at me.

"Yes you may, Prince Percy," she says and takes my hand. A song starts up and when we dance the singer starts singing, his voice is not what I was expecting, but I still like the song.

_See the pyramids around the Nile _

_Watch the sun rise _

_From the tropic isle _

_Just remember darling _

_All the while _

_You belong to me_

I start to ask her questions and I learn that she loves to garden, read, and is one of the most perfect girls I have ever met. She's extremely sweet and very humble, but I can tell that she would stand up for herself when she needs to. Her voice is soothing and like a melody at the same time, and her laugh, oh, her laugh. It's amazing. _You sound like a lovesick puppy…_

_Oh I'll be so alone without you _

_Maybe you'll be lonesome too_

We keep dancing and talking for another song until I realize that I have about 50 other girls to dance with.

"It was a pleasure dancing with you Calypso," I say.

"Please, call me Callie, Prince Percy," she says, giving me a smile.

"Alright then. I loved dancing with you, Callie. And, call me Percy," I say and I give her a kiss on the cheek. With every girl I danced with so far, I usually kissed their hand. But Callie was different.

"Goodnight," she says then curtsies to me, a pink tint on her cheeks. She walks away and as soon as she's gone, the girls swarm her asking her questions and she looks overwhelmed.

"Percy!" a deep and slightly childish voice says and I turn around to see my half-brother Tyson running towards me. He's very, very tall and strong for his age so when he gives me a hug, he almost cracks my ribs.

"Cracking… ribs," I say and he quickly lets go.

"Sorry big brother," he says and gives me a wide, toothy grin while I try to catch my breath.

"It's okay. How's working in dad's armory shop?" I ask him. When Tyson was 13, our dad offered him to work in his armory shop as an internship and ever since then, he's always worked there.

"It's fun! I make a lot of weapons and shields for Daddy's army," he says.

"That's great Tyson. So how's-" I'm cut off by a little squeal.

"Tyson! You're here!" Kailey squeals and Tyson picks her up and gives her a hug.

"Hey smalls! You look pretty," he says.

"Tanks bigs," she says and giggles. Ever since Kailey learned to talk, she called Tyson bigs since he was so large to her and he called her smalls since she was so tiny to him. I thought it suited them both well.

"I have to go dance with some more girls, so I will see both of you later," I say and Kailey turns her attention to me.

"Pewcy? When will you dance with me?" she asks.

"Very soon. I promise," I say and she looks satisfied with my answer. Some boys are dancing with some of the candidates, since they already danced with me. There are about 30 girls left sitting at their table, waiting for me to ask them to dance. Annabeth is one of them. I already asked every girl at her table to dance and they all were nice, but I knew that they were my friends' girlfriends. I dance with 20 girls and then I decide to ask Annabeth to dance. I walk over to her and she smiles at me as I stand in front of her.

"Hi. Would you like to-" I start to ask, but I am cut off by a tugging on my pants leg.

"Now will you dance with me Pewcy?" Kailey asks me with a cute, angelic pout on her face.

"Now who's this little cutie?" Annabeth and she bends over to Kailey's level.

"I'm Kailey Wose Andewson. You'we pwetty. Who awe you?," she says and leaps onto Annabeth's lap.

"Thank you Kailey. But I can't compete with your adorable dress. My name is Annabeth," she says and Kailey giggles in response.

"Percy's told me a lot about you," Annabeth says.

"What did he say?" she asks, her green eyes wide.

"Well, he says that you love to laugh, you are sweet to everyone you meet, you are very pretty, which you are, and that he loves you very much," she says.

"Tanks, Annabeth," she says and turns to me.

"I like her. Is she the girl you will mawy?" she asks and Annabeth blushes.

"I-I, um," I stutter, but I'm saved by Kailey's mom.

"There you are Kailey! I have been looking for you everywhere," Brianna says.

"Hi mommy. I was hewe with Pewcy and his pwetty fwiend Annabeth," she says and jumps off Annabeth's lap into her mom's arms.

"It's time to go back with daddy and me. It's past your bedtime," Brianna says.

"But mommy, Pewcy needs to dance with me," she says.

"Alright Kailey," Brianna says.

"Yay!" Kailey squeals.

"Is it okay if I go dance with Kailey first?" I ask Annabeth.

"Of course. I don't mind," she says and smiles.

"Thanks. Come on Kailey. A song is coming on," I say and Brianna puts her down. I take her small hand and we walk onto the dance floor. Kailey steps onto my feet and we dance. Every time I would spin her or lift her into the air, she would giggle or squeal. I think it's adorable and so does every other person in the ballroom. They all smile at her or say, 'Awww.' When the song ends, she yawns, so I pick her up and she lays her head on my shoulder as I walk over to my sister and Cole.

"Tanks Pewcy," she says sleepily.

"No problem for my favorite girl," I say.

"I want you to pick Annabeth ow the othew pwetty giwl," she says.

"Who's the other pretty girl?" I ask her.

"She helped me get a dwink and cookies. She's nice. Hew name is Cawypso," she says and I smile.

"Okay sweetie," I say.

"I wove you Pewcy," she says and I know she's already asleep.

"I love you too, Kailey," I say and we reach Brianna and Cole.

"Asleep already?" he asks and I nod.

"Thanks Percy. I can tell she had a fun time tonight," Brianna says and takes Kailey form my arms.

"No problem. I had fun with her. Before the night ends, I have to dance with 10 more girls," I say.

"Remember Percy, make the right choice," Brianna says.

"Don't worry. I will," I say. I dance with the other 9 girls, and then I walk over to where Annabeth is sitting and I notice all of her friends chatting with her. They all smile at me as I walk up to them.

"Annabeth, may I have this dance?" I ask her and extend my hand.

"No," she says and I'm surprised. I frown and look around, embarrassed.

"I'm kidding. I would love to dance with you," she laughs and takes my hand. We walk out onto the dance floor just as a piano starts playing. As the singer starts to sing, we start to waltz slowly.

_You're in my arms _

_And all the world is calm _

_The music playing on for only two _

_So close together _

_And when I'm with you _

_So close to feeling alive_

I look into her spell-binding grey eyes and everything around me disappears. The music plays for us, and only us. We need no words for this dance.

_A life goes by _

_Romantic dreams will stop _

_So I bid mine goodbye and never knew _

_So close was waiting, waiting here with you _

_And now forever I know _

_All that I wanted to hold you _

_So close_

We start to dance a little faster at this verse. Ever since I've gotten to known Annabeth, I've wanted to hold her in my arms and never let her go. We were always so close.

_So close to reaching that famous happy end _

_Almost believing this was not pretend _

_And now you're beside me and look how far we've come _

_So far we are so close_

I sing/whisper that last two lines into her ear. We were always close to... something. I don't know what. The song represents us. We've come so far in the past six months and I'm happy to have her beside me now. The verse ends and we start to dance faster and faster at the music pause. I spin her around and I lift her into the air a couple of times. We slow down slightly at the next verse.

_How could I face the faceless days _

_If I should lose you now? _

_We're so close _

_To reaching that famous happy end _

_And almost believing this was not pretend _

_Let's go on dreaming for we know we are _

_So close _

_So close _

_And still so far_

I know that I don't want to spend the rest of my days without her, but I'm still confused. So close, so close, so close. That was our relationship, so close. Would we ever get there? _But where_ is_ there?..._

As the song ends, we look into each other's eyes and I give her a lingering kiss on the cheek. The guests clap and we turn our heads only to notice that we were the only ones on the dance floor.

"It is now time for Prince Percy to make his decision," my step-dad says and I give Annabeth a smile before walking up to the top of the stairs where everyone entered.

"This decision is very difficult to make," I say. I'm still debating in my mind between two girls, Callie and Annabeth, "I choose…" Unfortunately, my mouth has a mind of its own.

"Calypso Paige"


	12. Chapter 12: Kind of

**A/N: Okay guys, I was really busy today since it was my birthday and since I promised I would post today, this is it. But it's the non-edited version. I will post the edited version soon. It's kind of rushed, sorry. I know it's extremely short, but the revised version will be longer. This is kind of a sneak peek. Here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own PJO**

**Chapter 12: The Beauty**

I walk in and I'm too nervous to notice how beautiful the ballroom was decorated. I walk down the stairs and notice the tired guests perk up at my entrance. My eyes wander to Percy at the end of the stairs and I force myself to not blush because his jaw is fully open and his eyes are wide. As I approach the end of the stairs, he quickly closes his mouth and bows with a smile. I curtsy as elegantly as I could and return the smile. I walk over to our groups table and sit down. Percy then walks over to a pretty Asian girl and asks him to dance. Throughout the dance, Percy looks horrified. He eventually asks many other girls and occasionally comes to our table to ask one of the girls to dance.

After a couple of hours, Percy takes a break at the royal family's table and I see Connor Stoll and Nico's older sister, Bianca approach him. They chat for a few minutes and Percy walks up to a sweet girl I was talking with earlier, Calypso Paige. They start dancing to a song that I remember hearing a long time ago. I can tell that Percy already likes her because he has a wide grin on his face. Both of them don't realize that they danced through two songs until the end of the second song. I watch him kiss her cheek and my heart drops, but I don't know why. They say their goodbyes and when she arrives back at her table, her cheeks are slightly pink and girls swarm her asking questions. After the girls finish talking with Calypso, she turns and faces me.

"Annabeth, do you personally know Prince Percy?" she asks and I'm surprised.

"Why do you ask?" I answer.

"Every once in a while he would casually bring you into the conversation. It was like he could do nothing but think about you. But he didn't even realize it," she says.

"Oh, well, yes. I do know Percy very well. I met him on our first day and we have hung out ever since then," I say.

"That explains it. But you do realize that he will most likely choose you," she says.

"No, we're just friends. Nothing more," I say firmly, but I can't help feeling wrong about saying this.

"Whatever you say…" she says. The girls all come over from dancing with their boyfriends and we talk about their dances with Percy.

"He was really nice and a complete gentleman," Cass says.

"I agree, but I can tell he was thinking about something else the whole time. Most likely Annabeth," Katie says and I blush.

"I'm telling you, were just friends," I say and they all look up behind me and smile. I turn around to see Percy himself walking up to me.

"Hi. Would you like to-," he starts, but is cut off by an extremely cute little girl tugging on his pants.

"Now will you dance with me Pewcy?" the little girl says with an angelic pout.

"Now who's this little cutie?" I ask and bend over to her level.

"I'm Kailey Wose Andewson. You'we pwetty. Who awe you?" she says and leaps into my lap. I realize that Kailey is even cuter than I pictured her.

"Thank you Kailey. But I can't compete with your adorable dress. My name is Annabeth," I say and she giggles.

"Percy's told me a lot about you," I say.

"What did he say?" she asks, her emerald green eyes wide.

"Well, he says that you love to laugh, you are sweet to everyone you meet, you are very pretty, which you are, and that he loves you very much," I say.

"Tanks, Annabeth," she says and turns to Percy.

"I like her. Is she the girl you will mawy?" she asks and I immediately blush.

"I-I, um," he stutters, but then Kailey's mom walks up.

"There you are Kailey! I have been looking everywhere for you," Brianna says.

"Hi mommy. I was hewe with Pewcy and his pwetty fwiend Annabeth," she says and jumps off my lap into Brianna's arms

"It's time to go back with daddy and me. It's past your bedtime," Brianna says.

"But mommy, Pewcy needs to dance with me," Kailey says.

"Alright Kailey," she says.

"Yay!" Kailey squeals.

"Is it okay if I go dance with Kailey first?" Percy asks me.

"Of course. I don't mind," I answer with a smile.

"Thanks. Come on Kailey. A song is coming on," he says and Kailey takes Percy's hand after Brianna puts her down. As the song starts, Kailey steps on Percy's feet and they dance. Many other dancers look at them and I can hear them say, 'Aww,' When the song ends, Kailey yawns so Percy picks her up and she lays her head on his shoulder. He starts to talk softly to her and he smiles at whatever she says. After he leaves Kailey with her parents, he asks the remaining nine girls to dance and then walks up to me.

"Annabeth, may I have this dance?" he asks and extends his hand.

"No," I answer, trying to hide my smile. He looks around, shocked at my answer.

"I'm kidding. I would love to dance with you," I say with a laugh and take his hand. We walk out onto the dance floor and we start to dance. I quickly get lost in his gorgeous sea green eyes and I feel a connection. When he spins or lifts me up into the air, I smile with joy. There is a new feeling in the pit of my stomach that I've never felt before, and I love it. Percy makes me feel like a happier and different person. Who knew that one person could change me in such a small amount of time? When the dance ends, he gives me a lingering kiss on the cheek, like he did with Calypso, but I'm too content to notice.

"It is now time for Prince Percy to make his decision," Percy's step-dad says and he flashes me a smile before he walks away. Percy walks to the top of the stairs where I entered not too long and he speaks.

"This decision was very difficult to make," he says and seems to be debating with himself about his choice. "I choose…" he says and I oddly find myself hoping for him to say my name. I have a small feeling that he will say my name, after that dance we shared; he seemed to be entranced like I was.

"Calypso Paige," he says and my smile disappears. Calypso's friends shriek with excitement and I let my head drop, trying to hide the disappointment. Calypso looks shocked and then happy, but she surprises all of us by walking straight over to me.

"Annabeth, I saw the way he looked at you when you danced and it was nothing compared to the way he looked at me. He may have chosen me, but know that you were the one meant to be with Percy," she whispers and hugs me. The next few minutes of the ball pass by in a blur, as I'm too astonished by Percy's decision and what Calypso said. The girls come to comfort me, but I wave them off.

We soon walk back to our rooms and Brianna and Aphrodite explain to us that we will leave early tomorrow morning. I silently change into my pajamas and climb into my bed. My head hits the pillow and when the lights go out, the tears start to fall.

_I thought he would choose me…_

_I thought he actually liked me…_

_I guess not._

I eventually fall asleep, but only because I'm all out of tears.


	13. Real Chap 12: Tears and Goodbyes

A/N: Here is the revised version! I've also seen other authors replying to their reviews from their previous chapters so that is what I will do for the rest of the story. Thanks to all who reviewed!

buzzlessbee: I felt really bad for Annabeth, too. And here's your update!

no-percabeth-is-no-life: It is very sad. I'm glad that I have some committed readers, and I'm saying that because you were sobbing. Lol. And I love your penname, by the way!

Olympian Hero: Thank you so much! You don't know how much that means to me. I'm pretty sure that you will be very entertained by what Percy does because I have a lot of more drama coming.

P.S. I hate long descriptions too, but I find myself to be very descriptive :)

diffrentisawesome: Yes, what has Percy done? Well, if I say that, then I'm basically saying that to myself because I'm Percy right now. Weird…

Lizzy Awkward Turtle: Well I'm sorry if you know how Annabeth feels. I haven't felt what she has felt yet, seeing as I'm only 13, but I know how to describe feelings of rejection. Thanks and here's your update!

PurpleDreamer99: Thanks! Here's your update and thanks for the happy birthday :)

Amazing-Anna'beth'1: Yes, I guess I am evil. Haha. I'm glad you like my story (of course I am) and here's your update!

ButterflyFlyToMe: As soon as I read what you said, I was shocked. The shock quickly went away though. I mean, what teenager or pre-teen doesn't hate their mom at least once in their life? I'm glad that you love my story and that you're hooked! That means a lot :)

3.1415926535897932384626433: Wow, very long and complicated penname. Why are you confused? And I reposted 13 because I deleted some author's notes.

klydo: You may object, but Calypso did not ruin it. She's actually helping with some things I have planned in the future. All of my readers will find out soon. I'm glad that you love my story and here's your update!

LMPERCYLOVER46: Here's your update and I'm glad that you find my story addicting :)

bookADDICT6: Yeah, I was originally planning to make Calypso Percy's snobby ex-girlfriend, but then I realized that it would be too hard because Calypso was always so sweet in the series. Rachel, for me, was easier to make snobby and self-absorbed. I don't know why, it just was. I felt bad for Annabeth too because, like many other fans, I'm 100% Percabeth . And yes, this little setback will make the story more interesting. At least, that's what I'm hoping you, along with my other readers, will think later on.

WiseGirl87: LOLZ! He is a Seaweed Brain! But I wouldn't necessarily say that he's stupid, just making some wrong decisions. I find it funny that you need Percabeth. In a good way, of course. Here's your update! And you will find out later whether or not Percy will marry Annabeth. I can't tell you, now can I? :)

Well, that took a while!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Chapter 12: The Beauty

I walk in and I'm too nervous to notice how beautiful the ballroom was decorated. I walk down the stairs and notice the tired guests perk up at my entrance. My eyes wander to Percy at the end of the stairs and I force myself to not blush because his jaw is fully open and his eyes are wide. As I approach the end of the stairs, he quickly closes his mouth and bows with a smile. I curtsy as elegantly as I could and return the smile. I walk over to our groups table and sit down. Percy then walks over to a pretty Asian girl and asks her to dance. Throughout the dance, Percy looks horrified. He eventually asks many other girls and occasionally comes to our table to ask one of the girls to dance.

After a couple of hours, Percy takes a break at the royal family's table and I see Connor Stoll and Nico's older sister, Bianca approaches him. They chat for a few minutes and Percy walks up to a sweet girl I was talking with earlier, Calypso Paige. They start dancing to a song that I remember hearing a long time ago. I can tell that Percy already likes her because he has a wide grin on his face. Both of them don't realize that they danced through two songs until the end of the second song. I watch him kiss her cheek and my heart drops, but I don't know why. They say their goodbyes and when she arrives back at her table, her cheeks are slightly pink and girls swarm her asking questions. After the girls finish talking with Calypso, she turns and faces me.

"Annabeth, do you personally know Prince Percy?" she asks and I'm surprised.

"Why do you ask?" I answer.

"Every once in a while he would casually bring you into the conversation. It was like he could do nothing but think about you. But he didn't even realize it," she says.

"Oh, well, yes. I do know Percy very well. I met him on our first day and we've hung out ever since," I say.

"That explains it. But you do realize that he will most likely choose you, right?" she asks.

"No, we're just friends. Nothing more," I say firmly, but I can't help feeling wrong about saying this.

"Whatever you say…" she says. The girls all come over from dancing with their boyfriends and we talk about their dances with Percy.

"He was really nice and a complete gentleman," Cass says.

"I agree, but I can tell he was thinking about something else the whole time. Most likely Annabeth," Katie says and I blush.

"I'm telling you, we're just friends," I say and they all look up behind me and smile. I turn around to see Percy himself walking up to me.

"Hi. Would you like to-," he starts, but is cut off by an extremely cute little girl tugging on his pants.

"Now will you dance with me Pewcy?" the little girl says with an angelic pout.

"Now who's this little cutie?" I ask and bend over to her level.

"I'm Kailey Wose Andewson. You'we pwetty. Who awe you?" she says and leaps into my lap. I realize that Kailey is even cuter than I pictured her.

"Thank you Kailey. But I can't compete with your adorable dress. My name is Annabeth," I say and she giggles.

"Percy's told me a lot about you," I say.

"What did he say?" she asks, her emerald green eyes wide.

"Well, he says that you love to laugh, you are sweet to everyone you meet, you are very pretty, which you are, and that he loves you very much," I say.

"Tanks, Annabeth," she says and turns to Percy.

"I like her. Is she the girl you will mawy?" she asks and I immediately blush.

"I-I, um," he stutters, but then Kailey's mom walks up.

"There you are, Kailey! I have been looking everywhere for you," Brianna says.

"Hi mommy. I was hewe with Pewcy and his pwetty fwiend Annabeth," she says and jumps off my lap into Brianna's arms

"It's time to go back with daddy and me. It's past your bedtime," Brianna says.

"But mommy, Pewcy needs to dance with me," Kailey says.

"Alright, Kailey," she says.

"Yay!" Kailey squeals.

"Is it okay if I go dance with Kailey first?" Percy asks me.

"Of course. I don't mind," I answer with a smile.

"Thanks. Come on Kailey. A song is coming on," he says and Kailey takes Percy's hand after Brianna puts her down. As the song starts, Kailey steps on Percy's feet and they dance. Many other dancers look at them and I can hear them say, 'Aww,' When the song ends, Kailey yawns, so Percy picks her up and she lays her head on his shoulder. He starts to talk softly to her and he smiles at whatever she says. After he leaves Kailey with her parents, he asks the remaining nine girls to dance and then walks up to me.

"Annabeth, may I have this dance?" he asks and extends his hand.

"No," I answer, trying to hide my smile. He looks around, shocked at my answer.

"I'm kidding. I would love to dance with you," I say with a laugh and take his hand. We walk out onto the dance floor and we start to dance. I quickly get lost in his gorgeous sea green eyes and I feel a connection. When he spins or lifts me up into the air, I smile with joy. There is a new feeling in the pit of my stomach that I've never felt before, and I love it. Percy makes me feel like a happier and different person. Who knew that one person could change me in such a small amount of time? When the dance ends, he gives me a lingering kiss on the cheek, like he did with Calypso, but I'm too lost in content to notice.

"It is now time for Prince Percy to make his decision," Percy's step-dad says and he flashes me a smile before he walks away. Percy walks to the top of the stairs where I entered not too long and he speaks.

"This decision was very difficult to make," he says and seems to be debating with himself about his choice. "I choose…" he says and I oddly find myself hoping for him to say my name. I have a small feeling that he will say my name, after that dance we shared; he seemed to be entranced like I was.

"Calypso Paige," he says and my smile disappears. Calypso's friends shriek with excitement and I let my head drop, trying to hide the disappointment. Calypso looks shocked and then happy, but she surprises all of us by walking straight over to me.

"Annabeth, I saw the way he looked at you when you danced. He looked at me in a special way too, but that's nothing compared to the way he looked at you. He may have chosen me, but know that you were the one meant to be with Percy," she whispers and hugs me as she's swept away with the crowd and congratulations. The next few minutes of the ball pass by in a blur, as I'm too astonished by Percy's decision and what Calypso said. The girls come to comfort me, but I wave them off, saying that there's nothing to be comforted about.

We soon walk back to our rooms and Brianna and Aphrodite explain to us that we will leave early tomorrow morning. I silently change into my pajamas and climb into my bed. My head hits the pillow with exhaustion and when the lights go out, the tears start to fall.

_I thought he would choose me…_

_I thought he actually liked me…_

_I guess not._

I eventually fall asleep, but only because I'm all out of tears.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Alright girls, just take your suitcases and other belongings with you in the van when it gets here," Brianna says as we wait for the vans to pick up 299 girls. The advisors said that everybody was able to take their clothes home since it would be a waste to throw away the clothes. I find the idea absolutely amazing (Note the sarcasm). Now I get to keep the dress that reminds me of the best and worst night of my life. When the vans arrive, we all pile into one along with Brianna, but before I can climb in, a familiar voice calls out my name.

"Annabeth! Wait!" I turn around to see Percy running down the steps of the castle. Thankfully, most of the other groups had already gotten in their vans so not that many girls were able to witness our conversation.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, trying to keep my face as expressionless as possible.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you of course. What else?" he says with a small laugh.

"Okay then. Goodbye," I say with a strained smile, but he doesn't catch it.

"That's all? Goodbye? No, I'll miss you, I had a great time with you, Call me when you can?" he asks, looking hurt.

"Well, what else is there to say? It's not like you'll be able to keep in touch with me, right? You'll be busy with wedding preparations, Calypso, and other stuff involving a prince," I say, but the words hurt.

"Of course I'll keep in touch with you! You're my best friend. Is that what's bothering you?" he asks with an amused expression.

"Yeah, that's what's bothering me," I mutter and he doesn't catch it.

"I promise I will call or text you whenever I can. I had a great time with you while you were here," he says and steps closer to me. For one hopeful moment, I think he's going to kiss me. But that hope is crushed when he hugs me instead.

"I-I had a great time with you too, Percy," I say and carefully hug him back. "Don't forget me," I whisper so softly that I can barely hear myself.

"I will never forget you. It's not possible," he says.

"Annabeth dear! I'm afraid it's time to go," Brianna says as she rolls down the passenger window.

"I'm coming," I say as I break our hug and climb into the back of the van next to Silena.

"Bye Percy," I say. He gives me a small wave, closes the van door, and steps back onto the sidewalk to avoid the other vans running him over. I watch him through the window on the door until he disappears from sight. The girls look at me, expecting me to say something, but I don't. Vicky eventually starts a conversation about something and I quickly tune out.

_**Well, how do you feel Annie?**_

_Wait, who are you? And don't call me Annie!_

_**I'm your conscious.**_

_Go away please._

_**I can't. I'm you, and you can't exactly go away from you.**_

_Just leave me and my thoughts alone._

_**I also can't do that. I'm supposed to help you. I know you feel rejected, hurt, miserable, unhappy-**_

_I get it._

_**Just stating the obvious. But listen to me, Calypso was right. You are the one meant to be with Percy. He made a mistake, that seaweed brain.**_

_Seaweed brain?_

_**You made it up. I'm you, remember?**_

_Ugh. And how do you know that Calypso's right? If I'm the one he's meant to be with, then why did he choose Calypso?_

_**He was very pressured and caught in the moment at the time. He was deciding between both of you and he didn't know what to say.**_

…

_**Nothing to say, eh? You know I'm right. And you do know that you're basically arguing with yourself, since I'm you?**_

_UGH! Will you stop with the, I'm you, thing? Man, I can be annoying sometimes._

_**You got that right.**_

_Shut it._

_So what am I supposed to do if I'm meant to be with Percy?_

…

_Conscious? Hello?_

…

"Oh sure, _now_ she's quiet," I say quietly and the girls closest to me give me an odd look.

_Seaweed Brain. It makes sense_… I smile at the thought of Percy's head being full of seaweed.

A/N: Nice little ending, isn't it? I'm going to have a lot writing Annabeth's conscious in the future… Anyway, I'll try to update within a week. Things are starting to get busier around my house since school starts on August 8 for people here in Arizona. Remember to VOTE on my poll for the wedding dresses and REVIEW since they make me very happy :)

~Skywriter5


	14. Choices Choices Choices

**Chapter 13: The Prince**

**Disclaimer: Please refer back to chapter 1.**

_Why did I say Calypso?_

_Why did I say Calypso?_

_Why did I say Calypso?_

These were the same thoughts that ran through my head all evening and through the night. After I announced Calypso's name, there were many congratulations, but I was too lost in thought to care. My parents and Brianna all gave my congratulations as well, but my parents didn't notice, only Brianna. She looked at me with an understanding expression and pulled me aside to see what was wrong.

"Percy, are you alright? You seem distracted," she says.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. It's just, I don't know if I made the right decision tonight," I whisper the last few words for fear of my parents or Calypso hearing.

"I thought that might be the problem. Well, I have to go say goodnight to my group, but we will talk soon," she says and gives me a hug.

"Okay, goodnight," I say with a kiss on her cheek and she walks out of the ballroom with a wave. Calypso then shyly walks up to me, my parents following her with their eyes.

"I don't know what to say expect thank you for choosing me," she says with a small smile.

"You're welcome," I say, also not knowing what else to say.

"Percy, I-," she begins, but is cut off by my mother.

"Calypso darling, we must go and move your stuff to your new suite. I'm sorry to take you away from Percy, but arrangements must be made," she says with a smile.

"Oh, well, that's fine then. Can we talk tomorrow?" she asks with an almost pleading look in her eyes.

"Of course. Goodnight then," I say and kiss her soft cheek. Her sharp intake of breath almost amuses me, but I hold back my laugh.

"Goodnight," she says and hurriedly walks out of the ballroom with my mother. I trudge out of the ballroom and make my way back to my oversized room. My phone sits on the nightstand next to my bed and I think about texting Annabeth, but then I realize that she must already be in bed. I quickly change into my pajamas, climb in bed, and let my thoughts wander to how beautiful Annabeth looked when she walked into the ballroom. The midnight blue dress showed off her slender frame and her golden blonde curls set perfectly on one shoulder. Her stormy grey were bright with emotion and I felt like I could see everything she was feeling. As I fall asleep, the last thing I see is her bright, flawless smile after we danced…

XxXxXxXxX

"Your highness," a deep voice says and I feel an arm shaking me. My eyes open to see one of our butlers- Thomas I believe is his name- standing above me.

"Yes?" I grumble, annoyed to be woken up.

"Sir, you asked me to wake you up an hour ago, but you would not move until now," he says with an embarrassed look.

"Crap!" I mutter and jump out of my bed into my closet, throwing on a pair of dark jeans and a white polo shirt.

"Thanks Thomas!" I yell over my shoulder as I run out of my room to the entrance of the palace, determined not to miss my only chance of goodbye to Annabeth. I sprint through the doors and down the stairs, just in time to see Annabeth walking to the back of a van.

"Annabeth! Wait" I exclaim. She turns around and her face shows no emotion.

"What are you doing here?" she questions, her tone of voice matching the look on her face.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you of course. What else?" I respond and give a small laugh.

"Okay then. Goodbye," she says bluntly.

"That's all? Goodbye? No, I'll miss you, I had a great time with you, Call me when you can?" I say, feeling hurt.

"Well, what else is there to say? It's not like you'll be able to keep in touch with me, right? You'll be busy with wedding preparations, Calypso, and other stuff involving a prince," she says and I understand why she's unlike herself.

"Of course I'll keep in touch with you! You're my best friend. Is that what's bothering you?" I ask, slightly amused.

"I promise I will call or text you whenever I can. I had a great time with you while you here," I say and take a step closer to her. My arms find my way around her, enveloping her in a hug.

"I-I had a great time with you too, Percy," she says quietly and cautiously hugs me back. "Don't forget me," she whispers so softly that I can just barely make out her words.

"I will never forget you. It's not possible," I reply, my voice filled with feeling.

"Annabeth dear! I'm afraid it's time to go," my sister says from the van, her face filled with sympathy.

"I'm coming," she answers and breaks our embrace to climb back in the van next to Silena.

"Bye Percy," she says. I wave in response, close the doors to the van, and step back onto the sidewalk. My feet can't seem to move from their spot until her van is completely out of sight. Once I can't see the speck in the distance anymore, I turn on my heels and walk in the door straight into Aphrodite.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," I say apologetically.

"That's quite alright Percy," she says and flashes me one of her naturally dazzling smiles.

"Have you seen Calypso anywhere?" I ask her.

"Hmm, the last time I saw her was in the gardens. I think she's still there," she answers.

"Okay. Thank you," I say and walk down the hall to the gardens. Once I arrive there, I notice that the flowers seem to be in full bloom and the aromas seem stronger than normal. I roam around for a little bit until I see Calypso bent over some flowers.

"Callie?" I ask tentatively. She stands up and turns around giving me a warm smile. Her long, caramel hair is in a braid down her back and she's wearing a short sleeved, white peasant shirt with dark wash capris.

"Hi," she greets.

"Hey. Do you want to sit down?" I ask her and she nods. We walk over to a nearby bench and sit.

"So, you said you wanted to talk to me?" I ask.

"Yes. Well, I wanted to know if you made the right choice picking me," she says and her question surprises me.

"Why would you ask that?" I reply.

"Because after you said my name, you seemed… I don't know, shocked? That you said my name, or disappointed," she says thoughtfully.

"Look, Callie, there's no reason for you to feel that way. I was just really… conflicted deciding between you and another girl. But I said what I wanted say," I assure her. Everything I said was the truth, except for the little white lie at the end.

"I realized that, but are you sure _I'm _the girl you want to marry? I mean, we've really only talked once to each other and you know your friend much better than me, Annabeth is her name," she says.

"Annabeth is my friend," _My best friend, _"and I do know her very well, but I want to get to know you better," I say and take her hands in mine. Her hands don't feel right in mine; they're warm and soft, but they just don't seem to feel right in mine.

"Alright, if you say so," she sighs and gives me a small smile, her light brown eyes look tired.

"I was wondering, can we invite Annabeth over one day? Since she's you best friend, I want to get to know her better too. We met briefly at the ball and she was really sweet and quiet, but I didn't get to talk to her much," she says.

"Uh, sure. I'm sure that's fine. I'll text her sometime today or tomorrow to ask her," I answer.

"Thanks," she says and I lean over to kiss her on the cheek. Her response is not as surprised as it was last night, but she still is startled. When I pull back, her cheeks have a pretty rose tint to them and it suits her with her tan skin.

"Should we go back inside?" she asks and I nod. We walk back hand in hand to the castle, but the whole time, I feel as if someone is watching us. _Strange…_

"Soon Percy. Soon," a voice mutters filled with pure hatred.

**A/N: Guys, I am so so sorry about not updating for so long. After I updated last time, I got obsessed with Twilight and read the whole saga in a week. Once I finished that, school started and eighth grade has me busier than I imagined to be. I have so much writing assignments that it's really overwhelming. Luckily, I don't have much homework this weekend since Labor Day is on Monday. We don't have school on Monday, so that's a plus. I have to say that I will not be updating often because of how busy I am. I will try to write whenever I have free time and hopefully I won't have a huge overload of homework anymore. There will be no review responses to this chapter since I want to get this to you guys quickly. I want to thank you guys for giving my more than 200 reviews! You guys don't know how much these reviews mean to me. Whenever I read one, they make me feel all warm inside from appreciation. Thank you :) This chapter is unedited, so sorry if there are any mistakes. I actually think my writing is getting better because I'm learning new things in school to make my writing better. Hopefully, you guys think that too. See you all soon and really sorry again for the long wait. Don't forget to VOTE on my poll and REVIEW please :)**

**~Sky**


	15. Coming Home and Creepy Watchers

**Chapter 14: The Beauty and the Prince **

"Annabeth! You're home!" my brothers cry out as I step out of the van. I am last to be dropped off at home and the thought suddenly occurs to me that I've been last for about everything lately.

"Hey guys! Miss me?" I say as I take both of them in my arms and hug them tightly. My parents come out behind them and both hug me until it's hard to breathe.

"You're back! Oh we missed you so much!" they cry out and I feel joy knowing that I wasn't forgotten.

"I missed you guys too," I say and smile at them all.

"Annabeth dear, here are your bags," Brianna calls out from behind and I realize that I still haven't introduced her to my family yet.

"Oh! Come here! I still haven't introduced you!" she walks over and stands next to me, "Mom, dad, this is Brianna Anderson, Percy's half sister. She was my advisor for the whole time I was there and one of my very close friends," I say and they shake hands warmly at each other.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about all of you," she says and my parents smile kindly at her.

"What about us? Did Anniebeth talk about us?" my brothers ask her, jumping up and down with large smiles on their faces.

"Of course she did! You know, I heard that you two are the most well behaved boys that Atlantis has ever had," she replies, bending down to their level and they grin.

"See mommy? We are the best boys in the world!" Matthew yells and he starts to run around the front yard with Bobby following closely behind.

"Yes honey, I see," my step mom sighs and we all laugh.

"It was lovely to meet you all, but unfortunately I must get back to the castle to watch my daughter," she says apologetically.

"You have a daughter?" my dad asks, shocked because she seems so young.

"Yes. She's three years old and her name is Kailey," she replies.

"She's just about the sweetest little girl ever," I telll my parents.

"Well, we must let you go and it was a pleasure to meet you," my step mom and smiles at her.

"Have a safe trip back," my dad says and shakes her hand. As I'm about to follow my family back into the house, Brianna calls me.

"Annabeth?" she calls.

"Yes?" I respond and turn around to face her.

"I had a wonderful getting to know you and I know that my brother did too. I hope you know that." She gives me a knowing look and I sigh in return.

"Of course I do. I'll miss you so much," she walks back over to me and engulfs me in a tight hug. I hug her back just as fiercely until she finally and we need no more words for goodbye as she simply gets in the van and drives away back to the castle. I watch the van disappear until it's just a speck in the distance and then head back into the home that I had missed for so very long.

**One Week Later: At the Castle**

I was searching throughout the castle trying to find Calypso when the idea popped into my head that she would mostly be in the gardens. Luckily I was near the entrance to the Royal Gardens and as soon I rounded the first corner I saw her hunched over a bed of roses. She was doing something that I could not see, most likely pulling out weeds that often grow.

"You know we have gardeners for this kind of stuff," I say amusingly and her head snaps up, brown eyes wide.

"Yes, but I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"There's nothing to apologize for. You can do whatever you like here," I give her a reassuring grin and she smiles tentatively. She stands up and I notice that all she seems to wear is white summer dresses and her caramel hair is always in the same braid over her shoulder.

"Percy, I think we should invite your friend Annabeth over for lunch tomorrow," she catches me by surprise and she chuckles at my expression.

"Do you not want to? Because if you don't feel comfortable having her-"

"No no. I would love to have her over. You jut caught me off guard that's all."

"Well, she seemed very sweet at the ball, but I could tell she's very stubborn. I would like to get to know her better since she is your best friend and all," I was surprised, I had no idea that they had even met at the ball.

"Alright then. I'll text her tonight and then see what she says. Do you want to go in for dinner now?" I hold out my hand and she shyly takes it in her small ones. She nods and we begin to head back inside while I try to ignore the fact that her hand feels wrong in mine, like it belongs somewhere else. Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and I feel like were being watched. I whip my head around but I see nothing except the flowers and trees.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Calypso asks with a worried expression.

"Yeah, everything's fine, it's just… Never mind," I shake my head and thankfully she lets it go.

"You fool! He almost saw you!"

"I'm sorry my lady, I did not mean-"

"Yes well no one ever _means_ anything but they still do it anyways. So he's inviting that stupid blonde over huh? Please, like he needs that puny Catherine or that dumb blonde when he can- Well, never mind that. Oh, Christina will get what she deserves soon. Very very soon…"

A/N: I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry! Hoy many months has it been? Gosh, I don't even know… I'll spare you the excuses but believe me, I tried to write this summer and before that, but it was very hard. Now school starts up again next week (High School! AHHH!) and the crazy begins. But here's some surprising news, I STILL get emails from people who read my story and favorite it! That's amazing! Anyways, thanks to some urging from my fans to update, my bff LaughLoverCrystal a little while back, and some determination I was able to update today! This is really short I know But I will try and I really mean try to write the next chapter which will have some MAJOR things going down. But I know you guys will love it! Again, so so sorry for the terrible wait but maybe I'll make it up to you guys later. Adios loyal readers!

~Sky

P.S. As of July 9, I am officially 14! Oh yeah baby! (Sorry, just had to put that out there…)


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Just to let you know, something BIG is going to happen in this chapter and because of that I'm not going to put a chapter title because it will give it away. See you at the end!**

**Disclaimer: Oops! Forgot this in last chapter… Well you know the drill. I do not own PJO (unfortunately…)**

**Chapter 15: The Beauty and The Prince**

_Don't worry Annabeth. There's nothing wrong with having lunch with your best friend and his fiancée. Don't be so nervous._

_**Please. Like **_**that's **_**the reason you're worried.**_

_Great. You're back._

_**Technically I've always been here.**_

_Ugh! Stop with that whole technicality business so I can finish getting ready! Leave me alone…_

_**Fine. I get when I'm not wanted.**_

_FINALLY._

I sigh at the strange conversation that went throughout my head and look at myself in my full length mirror. I put my curly blonde hair in a ponytail and decided to wear a pair of denim skinny jeans with a pale blue blouse and my grey vans. Once I decide I look suitable enough to be in the present of the future princess I say goodbye to my family, grab my purse and get into my car to drive over to the palace. Nervous could not even describe what I was feeling for the lunch I agreed to go to with Percy and Calypso. Surely nothing could go wrong, right? But knowing my Seaweed Brain of a best friend, most likely something would.

15 minutes later I pull up to the gates of the castle and the guard passes me through after making sure I was the real Annabeth Chase. Please, who would want to impersonate _me?_ Once I pull up to the front steps a young guard smiles politely at me and he says he is to take me car to park it. I hesitantly hand over the keys since my car is one of the most precious possessions I own. I walk up the steps and a maid meets me at the top.

"Welcome, Miss Chase. His Highness has arranged for lunch to be in the gazebo in the Royal Gardens. Would you like me to take you there?"

"Oh no thank you. I remember the way," I force out a smile and she smiles warmly at me before curtsying and walking away. The familiar surroundings are comforting and my memory serves me well as I quickly find the entrance to the garden. I gasp as I walk through the garden, which seems even more magnificent than the last time I was here. My feet have a mind of their own as they lead me to the gazebo where I remember passing many times during my stay here. Suddenly I hear my name being called and I freeze. I slowly look up to see the boy that I had missed terribly in only a week.

"Hey Annabeth!" his mouth breaks out in a grin and it makes him look achingly handsome. His white and straight teeth are bright against olive tan skin and his jet black hair is as messy as every with his bangs practically covering his eyes. My goodness, those eyes. The sea green orbs that somehow managed to see into every inch of me, that matched the color of the ocean perfectly and always had mischievous glint in them. That was my favorite thing about him, his eyes. Right now those beautiful eyes were showing but joy and I was happy to realize that that look was for me and me only. Suddenly he ran down from the gazebo and wrapped me in a tight hug. At first I was too startled to do anything, but then I brought up my arms and hugged him back just as fiercely. I breathed in his scent of man that every guy seemed to smell of, but his had that special mix of the ocean that I loved. With Percy by my side, I wasn't so nervous anymore.

**Percy's POV**

I looked up and there she was, somehow looking even more beautiful than she did a week ago. Her golden blonde locks are in a ponytail and a few curls were surrounding her tan face, her stormy grey eyes intense as ever, but that light blue blouse she had on made her eyes look more blue grey. I loved her hair, it smelled like lemons and sometimes I just wanted to run my hands through the soft looking. I couldn't help the grin that fell across my lips and I found myself running towards her and wrapping her in a hug.

Once we finally let go and I looked into her eyes, I realized that for the first I could see every single emotion running through her eyes. Normally, all I saw was what she showed, but this time it was like I was looking straight into the depths of her thoughts. There was happiness, radiance, wisdom- as always- and something else I couldn't quite figure out. But I was then interrupted from my reverie by Calypso's soft voice.

"Hi Annabeth," she says and I turn around to let them see each other better.

"Hey Calypso. How's your first week in the palace been so far?" she asks with a friendly smile.

"Oh it's been great. Percy's been helping me a lot," Calypso then smiles at me and I think I see Annabeth grimace, but it goes away as soon as it came so I must have imagining it.

"That's… wonderful," she finally replies, seeming at a loss for words.

"Let's eat!" I announce and Annabeth and I walk over to the gazebo where a white table is set up with a delicious looking lunch is being served; a chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries on the side, a Caesar salad, pink lemonade, and my mom's famous blue cookies for dessert.

"You would get straight to the food, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth states once the three of us are all sitting down. _Seaweed Brain?_

_**She's right you know. You are one.**_

_Um, who am I talking to?_

_**You.**_

_Me? I'm confused right now._

_**I'm your conscious. So technically you're talking to yourself. Doesn't Calypso look gorgeous? But I bet not as great as Annabeth though.**_

_Yeah, sure… Wait, they both look beautiful. _

_**I'm sure you prefer Annabeth though. Am I right or am I right?**_

_You're wrong. I don't _prefer _any one of them. Besides, Calypso is my fiancée…_

_**You know you made a mistake though. You wish you picked Annabeth.**_

_No! I mean… not that there's anything wrong with her… it's just… Ugh! Never mind! Now go away because they're giving me weird looks._

_**As you wish oh so confused one.**_

"Um, Seaweed Brain? Why am I a seaweed brain?" I ask, raising my eyebrow. A pretty pink blush falls across her cheeks and I can't help but chuckle at her embarrassment.

"Because you can make some really weird decisions sometimes and you are always acting funny. Plus half the time only food is on your mind," she states, regaining her composure. _Food isn't always the only thing on my mind…_

"I do not act funny! Besides, you're a… you're a Wise girl! Ha, Wise Girl!" I retort, but I know it's a terrible comeback. She snorts and rolls her eyes.

"Please, that's the best you could come up with? Wise Girl? I'm actually going to take that as a compliment," she has a smug look on her face and I cross my arms and pout a little.

"You two are hilarious! I could watch the both of you all day," Calypso suddenly intervenes in our little banter and I look over at her a little startled, I almost forgot she was here.

"Percy over here is _always _amusing to watch," she says and nods her head over to me and I pout once again.

"Yeah, well…" Annabeth holds up her hand to stop me from continuing.

"Don't go on. It's too horrible to watch you trying to struggle from all that seaweed in your brain to come up with a decent comeback." Calypso bursts out laughing and Annabeth joins in, her laugh sounding so… melodic. I can't help but laugh with them and the rest of the lunch goes by like this, laughing and joking around with each with Calypso and Annabeth both ganging up on me. There's no awkwardness whatsoever and it makes me happy to see both girls getting along so well. I know that Calypso is usually shy and Annabeth is not always the… friendliest person in the well so this is pretty rare for the both of them. Once we finish eating, we decide to take a walk throughout the gardens. But before we could, Calypso speaks up.

"Annabeth, is it alright if I talk to Percy for a minute? It's something really important," I give her and odd look but she avoids it.

"Sure, of course. I can start walking and you guys can catch up to me? I'll make sure to walk slowly," she laughs lightly and Calypso grins.

"Perfect," after making sure Annabeth is out of earshot she turns toward me and takes my hands in hers.

"Is everything okay Callie?" I ask her.

"Everything is great with me, but I'm not sure with you. You don't like me,"

"What? Of course I like you! How could I not?" I was a little outraged, was I acting cruel to her?

"No, not that way. I mean that you don't seem to have an attraction to me and that's okay. But I think you do towards Annabeth."

"How… what in the world makes you think that I like Annabeth? She's my best friend."

"I don't think you just like her. I think you're… I think you're in love with her." at this comment I jump out of my seat and start to pace around the gazebo.

"WHAT? I am most definitely NOT in love with her! Sure I like how she's clever and witty. How she can be _so _stubborn sometimes, the way she's so infuriating but wonderful at the same time. That weakness she has for babies that nobody knows about, how she would make a wonderful mother. I love the way her hair glows in the sunlight and her princess curls… I love when she gets mad and her stormy grey eyes look almost alive. I love her lemony sweet scent. I love… her. Oh my gods, I do love her. I'm in love with my best friend," I run my hands through my hair and stop pacing once I come to the realization that I am completely and utterly in love with Annabeth Chase.

"I told you. Now go get her and never let her go," Calypso walks up to me and puts a hand on my cheek.

"Wait, so you're just going to leave?"

"I am not the right person to become your wife, Annabeth is. You have to go get her and convince her to stay with you for the rest of your life. A love like this is rare and you shouldn't ignore it. Annabeth is an amazing girl and I know the both of you will live a happy and long. I am going to leave and go home where I belong because Annabeth is the one who belongs here, not me. Thank you for choosing me, even though it was the wrong one, and goodbye. Now go. Get. Her," she kisses me on the cheek and walks in the opposite direction of where Annabeth went.

"Callie?" I call out to her and she turns around.

"Thank you," is all I say to her and she smiles and walks away once again. Once I come to my senses, I take off and run as fast I can to reach the one I love and thankfully Annabeth was true to her word, she didn't go too far.

"Annabeth!" I yell out and she smiles at me when I catch up to her.

"Where's Calypso?" she asks with a questioning look on her beautiful face.

"She uh, had to go back inside. She wanted to give us privacy,"

"Privacy? For what? And you look worried, your eyebrows are all furrowed up," she pokes the spot right above my nose and between my eyebrows and I laugh nervously.

"Well, I wanted to… needed to tell you something,"

"Okay. What is it?"

"I-I want you to stay,"

"I can stay for a while longer. Is that all?"

"No, I mean, I want you to stay with me and be the one I marry. Not Calypso," she is stunned into silence. I wasn't expecting her to throw her bag on the ground and get so close to my face that our noses are practically touching.

"So you want me to become your new girlfriend that you can dump and then keep getting new ones until you're satisfied? I can't believe you! You expect me to throw my life away AGAIN to be your next play toy? No way Perseus Jackson! I can't believe you broke poor Calypso's heart to just come and ask me to be your new wifey! You are such a JERK!" her eyes are alive and seething with anger. I was NOT expecting her to be this upset.

"Annabeth, listen to me. I don't want you to be my _play toy. _And I didn't break Calypso's heart. While we were talking back there she made me realize that I made a mistake choosing her at the ball, that I should have chosen _you. _You were the one for me all along. I'm not going to dump you because I could never hurt you like that. Please, all I want for you is to believe me," I take her hands in my mine and give her a desperate look. Her look softens just the slightest bit, but I can still tell she's mad at me.

"Okay, maybe I do believe you, but that still doesn't help you. This is a big commitment, me becoming your WIFE. I want you to prove to me that you want me here. Prove it and you better do it fast," an idea pops into my head.

"Fine, you want me to prove that I want you here? Okay," I push her back into a large tree right behind her, grab her neck and press my lips to hers. At first, she's too surprised to do anything, but then she relaxes in my arms and wraps her arms around my neck. I move my lips in synch with hers and taste the sweet taste of chocolate on her lips. I slide my arms down to her waist and pull her impossibly closer to me. I feel electricity from my head to the tips of my toes and I can't get enough of her lips. This feels incredibly right and I wonder why I never did this before. Once I can't take anymore I painfully rip my lips away from hers and take a gasp of air. I look into her eyes and they are bright with emotion. Her cheeks are flushed and her pink lips are swollen. Who knows how long the kiss lasted, but it felt like a blissful eternity.

"Okay, you proved your point," she whispers and buries her face into my shirt. I chuckle and she looks up at me sheepishly.

"Sorry for calling you a jerk… Heat of the moment and all," she says in a small voice.

"It's fine. But do you believe me now? You are the only one for me and I want you to know that."

"Yes, I believe you. Honestly, after we danced that night I was secretly hoping that you would choose me. I don't think I realized that I liked you until I was walking alone right now before you came."

"Well I'm glad you realized that just in time. Should we go back inside the castle? We should thank Calypso. After all, she made me get my head out my butt and come and fight for you," she bursts out laughing and nods her head. I lightly kiss her on the lips once again and we walk back with my arm around her shoulder and her leaning into me.

"UGH! How could this have happened? He was supposed to stay with the flower not the stupid blonde! Now all my plans are all RUINED! Now I have to start to planning ALL over again!"

"Of course your highness. We'll come up with a better plan than last time,"

"Well obviously we will you idiot. The new 'happy couple' won't know what hit them…"

**A/N: I hope you love me now! I was so happy that when I realized it was time for this chapter that I couldn't get it done fast enough! I TOLD you I would fix it :) So no Speak Now stuff because that is just WAY to cliché and overused. You know, I wasn't planning this from the beginning. I was reading a book (can't remember which one) and this popped into my head when I finished it (and no I did not take that author's idea). Speaking of plagiarizing, a fan let me know that she read a book similar to mine called The Selections and I want to let all of you guys know that I did NOT mean to write this story so similar to that author's. Just thought I'd clear that up. By the way, a guest left a review saying that they hope I make a sequel? This story is far from over Guest! I still have a lot left to write and there is more drama yet to come. I'm not sure why they thought I was done with this story… Did I leave you guys with a closure feeling? Hope not! **

**Anyways, I'm supposed to be finishing reading Great Expectations for high school by Charles Dickens (it's so boring and I can't get into it! For those of you who've read it, please tell me it gets better! I'm at the part where the lawyer dude is telling Pip that he's receiving a fortune… If ANYONE here has read it…) but I updated for you guys because I couldn't help myself! Aren't I a generous person? ;) Actually, this is the least I could have done for the wait I gave you guys… Got to go now! I will update soon!**

**~Sky**


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